Issue 29 - September 2017

The Lamu County Spatial Plan (2016 – 2026): Will it safeguard Kenya’s coastal biodiversity and tourism hotspot?

Peter Prokosch

The Lamu mangroves are of global importance. Photo: Peter Prokosch

Coastal Kenya is home to an amazing array of wildlife – it’s one of the most biodiverse parts of Africa. Over 550 plant and 50 animal species found in Kenya’s coastal forests occur nowhere else on earth, WWF-Kenya says. Thereby the main biodiversity and tourism hotspot is the coast of Lamu, where 70% of the countries mangrove-forests still exist. It is a place of global importance, where linking tourism and conservation is an urgent issue. Lamu is stepping into a new era of large-scale development and infrastructure investment, particularly through the multi-million dollar Lamu Port, South Sudan and Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) project. And in addition causes the proposed 1,050 MW Lamu Coal Power Station major concern. Now the Lamu County has come up with the nations’ first Spatial Plan (2016-2026), and it even has received support from WWF. For LT&C it will be of interest to see the local tourism business engaged to make that plan a success by securing enough space for well-managed protected nature areas.

The Lamu Tourism Association advertises “Rich in history and culture and blessed with exquisite natural beauty, the Lamu archipelago has welcomed travelers for over a thousand years. Lamu is a magical place of long white sandy beaches, rolling sand dunes dotted with palms and acacia tortillis trees; turquoise seas, bounteous marine life and tranquil back waters; lush mangrove forests, river estuaries, deep forests and yellow grassy plains which hold some of Africa’s last truly wild game and bird life.”

A key asset of the Lamu coast are the extensive mangrove forests, which beside other valuable functions, play an important role as “blue carbon” for the global climate. Atwaa Salim, project coordinator of the Lamu Marine Conservation Trust, describes also how local people look at the values of mangroves. He explains how byproducts of the dense mangrove forest lining the coast can be spotted everywhere in town: almost all the roofs are made of mangrove wood, as well as the traditional boats that locals use for fishing and to carry tourists around the smaller islands in search of coral. The forest also acts as a nursery for species such as the jumbo prawn and the snapper which are a key source of income. “Mangroves are everything for us,” he says.

“Mangrove loss threatens Kenyan coastal communities and the climate”, wrote Lou Del Bello from Nairobi 22/09/2016 in the Climate Home News, and refers to the eminent threat of the planned coal plant, due to start operating in 2020. Prospected Kenyas largest coal power plant would not only be build on the direct cost of mangrove area, it would in a multiple way harm the climate. Also as seawater will be used to cool down the machinery, and the discharge put back into the sea will be dangerously warmer, altering the organic balance of the mangrove swamps.

Crab-plovers on Lamu tidal flats. Photo: Peter Prokosch

WWF wrote about the East African mangroves: “Highly productive nurseries for fish and prawns, eastern African mangroves significantly enhance the biodiversity of surrounding marine habitats while providing vital habitat for migratory birds, marine turtles, dugongs and porpoises. The most developed mangroves in this ecoregion extend as far as 50 km inland, with canopy heights up to 30 m. However, Eastern African mangroves are threatened in many areas by overuse and conversion by a growing human population that utilizes the mangroves for rice farming, shrimp aquaculture, and for construction materials and the timber trade.”

And only a year ago WWF summarised the situation in Lamu as follows:

Lamu is stepping into a new era of large-scale development and infrastructure investment, particularly through the multi-million dollar Lamu Port, South Sudan and Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) project.
Whilst these developments could generate substantial economic and social benefits, they also pose significant risks. In particular, if poorly executed, they could lead to significant and irreversible environmental damage, including the loss of valuable natural capital assets (including forests, mangroves, water sources, beaches, seagrass, coral reefs and fisheries).
These assets provide a range of vital goods and services that underpin the county’s economy and well-being of its people (e.g. by providing water, fuel, food and raw materials; supporting farming, fishing, grazing, tourism and recreation; absorbing waste and carbon, and protecting people from hazards such as drought, flooding and storms).
Many of these assets are already in decline due to human impacts, and the costs of this are already being felt. Further losses would undermine the ability of natural systems to sustain economic productivity and basic human needs, posing profound implications for Lamu’s future prosperity.
At the same time, Lamu County Government is developing a county spatial plan (CSP) to guide the development, use and conservation of land and resources in the county for the next 10 years.
Lamu faces a choice: it can ignore nature in the SP and pay a heavy price, even in the short-term. Or it can use the SP to ensure that Lamu develops in such a way that it also safeguards its natural assets and, in doing so, helps to secure a prosperous and resilient future.
A range of measures could be incorporated into the CSP to achieve this, including planning and designing development to avoid and/or mitigate impacts to natural capital; restoring critical assets; and identification of long-term natural capital investment requirements via the CSP’s Capital Investment Framework (CIF).
Obviously the Lamu County Spatial Plan, which has been launched by the County Government of Lamu Thursday, July 13, at Mkunguni Square in Lamu Island, provides now hope that its implementation will lead to an optimal outcome seen from the perspectives of both the local communities as well as the various stakeholders and interest groups. At least WWF, who had itself significantly been involved in the development of the plan, is speaking very positively about the plan and offers further financial and technical support. WWF-Kenya’s board member Dr. Richard Kaguamba, urged Lamu residents to rally behind the plan stating that the WWF-Kenya has and will remain at the forefront in supporting the Lamu County Spatial Plan next phase of implementation.

As the Lamu County Spatial Plan is the first one of the overall Kenya National Spatial Plan (see promotion video), it may have also implications for the remaining 46 counties of Kenya. The more it will be important that its implementation will demonstrate that all the natural assets of the region can be sustained to the benefit of the local communities und businesses, such as tourism, which depends on them. LT&C will have a look, where tourism businesses will play a particular supportive role to safeguard Lamu’s valuable nature and invites to create LT&C-Examples others can replicate or learn from.

If you want to play a role here you can visit www.ltandc.org

Health & Sustainable Living

September Letter from the Editor: When did we become a disposable society?

Taking a step backwards to borrow a lesson from a simpler society can be the first move in reducing our waste and living a greener, healthier life. I went to Vietnam but you can look just about anywhere. Maybe even to your own childhood to learn how to turn away from being a participating member of our disposable society.

vietnam man fixing fan with souldering iron

Reflections from Vietnam

Earlier last month I was heading out to Sapa, Vietnam, for a multi-day hike through the tribal highlands (check out some photos I included at the bottom). Sapa was a magical experience stepping back slightly to a place where communities live in closer harmony with the land. Simpler rural lives respecting nature but still easily connected through smart phones, internet, and GPS positioning. On my way out there, I stopped in Hanoi, one of my favorite (and most delicious) cities.

As my curiosity often leads me, I wandered the streets stretching the lens of my camera. I captured moments in time of hurried men and women on their way to work. Teenagers zipping around town, and laborers going about their daily lives. I paused in front of a garage to watch an older man who caught my attention. He was soldering broken rungs back on the grate of a table fan. Cigarette in mouth and flame in hand he spent upwards of an hour maneuvering each small piece until the ventilator was in proper condition.

What would have ended in the trash at our homes was painstakingly repaired and given a new life. It got me thinking, when did we (in western culture) become such a disposable society? And to what end? These “trashing” habits are what drives the waste of products, food, and resources, while fueling our insatiable hunger for more.

Our wasteful lifestyle

Some people might wonder what the big deal is to have a wasteful lifestyle. For starters, new products and increased food production raises carbon emissions leading to human-induced climate change. Habitat loss and deforestation results from mining and grazing land. All the while, pollution remains inescapable. But there is something we can do about it. I don’t expect anyone to take out a blow torch to fix their broken iphone (with the latest software update I just might), but we have to take a step back to be more conscious of what we waste, what goes straight in the trash, and the physical energy and resources that end up in the bottom of our bins.

Acknowledging waste and backpedaling to a more conscious lifestyle is the very thing that we all have to do if we want a healthier and safer tomorrow. Our grandparents certainly led simpler, less wasteful lives, so why can’t we? As always, never hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or would like to learn more. This September issue has two articles on reducing waste if you need some ideas to get started.

Join us

SEVENSEAS Media is the leading free resource that promotes marine conservation through community engagement, online media, and eco-tourism, with readers in 174 countries. With the particularly brutal effects of climate change we are witnessing through floods and storms, we are asking you to please keep SCIENCE at the forefront of your conversations with family, friends, and colleagues. Encouraging them to subscribe to free products and programs like SEVENSEAS Media actually makes a difference by promoting scientific discussion and shining a spotlight on the good work of our partners in conservation.

Safe travels & happy swimming,

Giacomo Abrusci, Executive Director, Editor-in-Chief

See the slideshow below for some great snaps from our hike through Sapa, Vietnam.

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Conservation Photography

Conservation Photographer Karim Iliya: September 2017

Freediver Marina Daian swims with a Hawaiian green sea turtle. Turtles are known to lose a fin in a variety of ways including shark attacks or entanglement in fishing gear. Image by conservation photographer Karim Iliya.

green turtle karim iliya sevenseasmedia sevenseas conservation photography Conservation Photographer

Karim Iliya

Karim is a professional underwater photographer and Aerial Cinematographer living on the island of Maui, Hawaii. Growing up in the Middle East and Asia, Karim lives a nomadic lifestyle with a focus on photographing wildlife and marine environments to help increase awareness and an appreciation of our delicate ecosystems on Earth.

www.karimphotography.com
karimiliya@gmail.com
instagram: karimiliya

SEVENSEAS Media Conservation Photography

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Issue 29 - September 2017

Above and Below the Surface with 4Ocean. Tackling Marine Litter.

See how two entrepreneurs took on marine litter

by Kevin Majoros

The natural tendency to have far-sightedness is a gift that successful business owners use to fulfill their vision. Many entrepreneurs will tell you that their inclinations began at an early age.

4ocean bracelets sevenseasmedia sevenseas media

Such is the case for the two millennial founders of 4Ocean.

The entrepreneurial spirit lived inside of them early on whether it was hawking candy bars in high school, selling coconuts on the beach in college, captaining boats or running fishing charters.

The self-described ‘boat ramp rats’ had an epiphany while on a surfing trip to Bali. Alex Schulze and Andrew Cooper were just graduating from Florida Atlantic University with marketing and entrepreneurship degrees and knew they wanted their life paths to involve working on the water.

“On that trip to Bali, we watched local fishermen wade through piles of trash to push their boats out, only to return with no fish to sell,” says Cooper. “Someone pointed out that fishing is their living – it’s what they sell. That sentence resonated and we wondered, ‘what if we could get people to buy the trash.’”

guy surfing on waves on the ocean working to remove marine litter

Removing the trash that ends up in our oceans

4Ocean is based in Boca Raton, Florida and is dedicated to removing the trash that ends up in our oceans. After 16 months of prepping and quantifying, the company was launched in January of 2017.

4ocean team by the sea at a beach cleanup removing marine litter

In their first seven months, 4Ocean has collected over 90,000 pounds of trash. The company started with two employees and has grown to a staff of 40 which includes boat captains who operate five cleanup vessels, seven days a week.

Their cleanup focus is on beaches, offshore and intracoastal waterways and the primary location for the ocean cleanups is currently on the East Coast of Florida. Through partnerships with other organizations, 4Ocean has hosted cleanups in Canada, Bahamas, Montserrat, Haiti, Norway and the Philippines.

The concept of getting people to buy the trash has been accomplished through the sale of 4Ocean bracelets. The bracelets are made out of 100% post-consumer recycled material. The beads are made from recycled glass bottles and the cord is made from recycled plastic water bottles. Every bracelet purchased funds the removal of one pound of trash from the ocean.

guy surfing sevenseas seavenseasmedia 4ocean working to remove marine litter

The trash collected by 4Ocean is sorted in their 8,000-square foot cleanup warehouse and then taken to waste processing centers. Their bracelets are made from recycled materials from an outside facility.

To keep the concept fresh, 4Ocean launches a new campaign every six to eight weeks and ties it to observation events such as Shark Conservation Week, Earth Day and World Oceans Day.

Looking back and into the future

Andrew Cooper was raised in Orlando, Florida and says the ocean has always been near and dear to him. “My mother once said I was born an hour too far away from what I really am,” Cooper says.

He is a 100-ton sea boat captain, sailboat captain and has worked on yachts. Along with Alex Schulze, he has traveled for freediving, surfing, scuba diving and spearfishing in locales such as Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Indonesia.

“My time spent on the water exposed me to trash in weed lines along with dirty intracoastal waterways,” says Cooper. “It was a precursor to this path of conservation.”

There has been a lot of discussion among ocean conservationists regarding cleanup efforts versus fixing the source of the problem. Cooper is quick to address that topic.

“When a sink breaks and water flows, you aren’t going to just mop it up, you are also going to stop it at the source,” Cooper says. “The reason for the bracelet is to encourage people to join the movement. We are hoping to showcase a lifestyle of being socially conscious by being proactive and reactive.”

Alex Schulze grew up on Marco Island in Florida and says he was fortunate to grow up on the water. When he was five, a 16-foot Carolina Skiff was given to his family and he was ‘hooked like a maniac’. He became a licensed captain and began running fishing charters while fishing, surfing and scuba diving became a daily part of his life.

When it came time for college, Schulze knew it would be near the water and he continued to run charters while attending Florida Atlantic. Just like Cooper, ocean conservation has always been a passion.

Support from the community

“What has resonated with both of us is the amount of support we have received from our customer base which has exploded with growth,” says Schulze. “People are becoming more aware and we want to educate on simple actions such as changing daily habits.”

4ocean team by the sea at a beach cleanup removing marine litter Because of the bracelets, 4Ocean has struck a chord with the millennial generation and the organization has had great support at beach cleanups.

“Our methods for cleanup are to attack from all angles which includes the captains of the boats picking up floating debris along with workers diving down for trash,” Schulze says. “We are using every piece of our skill sets.”

Those skill sets have come from a life spent on the water that Cooper and Schulze acquired both above and below the surface.

The two ‘boat ramp rats’ have come full-circle.

“We are literally living the lifestyle we always wanted,” says Schulze. “It’s time to make cleaning the ocean cool.”

Adds Cooper, “There is a human responsibility in raising awareness for ocean conservation. Doing this work is a dream come true.” 4ocean boat on sevenseas media cleaning up marine litter

visit www.4ocean.com to learn more.

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