Tudor Creek Mangrove Restoration Initiative

We are a Community Based Organization called Brain Youth Group (BYG). BYG was formed in 2011 with members including widows, single mothers and youths of between 18-35 years. The group members are residents of Junda sub-location, Kisauni constituency in Mombasa County, Kenya. The group focuses on environmental conservation issues, educating and creating awareness to the local community and other people in Mombasa County on the importance of conserving the environment, how to mitigate climate change issues in the County and creation of employment to the youth to earn income to sustain themselves. Our current ongoing projects are:

1. Mangrove restoration

2. Bee Keeping

3. Marine Fish Farming

4. Beach Clean Ups

5. School outreach programs

6. Community awareness

The group Mission is to work for sustainable development of Mombasa County by providing alternative sources of income through environment conservation. Our Vision is to totally restore the mangrove degraded areas around Tudor Creek and create employment to the youths through engaging them in activities associated with environment conservation and other living organisms at large. Our objectives include;

1. To plant mangroves on degraded sites at Tudor Creek and to reduce the threats causing reduction to mangrove forest in Mombasa County.

2. Educating and creating awareness to the local community living around mangrove forest areas on the importance of conserving them.

3. To create employment to the youths through constructing fish ponds and keeping bee hives inside the mangroves to get honey.

Tudor Creek mangroves forest cover was 1641 ha but reduced to 215 ha due to natural calamities and human activities such as digging for fish bait at the sites. We are intending to plant 14,260, 000 mangroves at Tudor Creek in Mombasa County, Kenya.

The group has managed to plant 5 million mangroves along Tudor Creek with the survival rate of 92%. The group also has 270 bee hives. These have been key in the enhancement of the livelihoods of the people in Junda. Fish farming has also promoted the livelihoods of the community members.

Keystone of a coastal ecosystem: Mangroves, seagrass beds, and coral reefs are often found together and work in concert. The trees trap sediment and pollutants that would otherwise flow out to sea.

Seagrass beds provide a further barrier to silt and mud that could smother the reefs. In return, the reefs protect the seagrass beds and mangroves from strong ocean waves. Without mangroves, this incredibly productive ecosystem would collapse.

WHY MANGROVES "Mangroves are like the kindergarten, seagrasses are the secondary schools, and coral reefs are the high schools and colleges for fishes! And, once [the fishes] graduate from university, they return to kindergarten to spawn." Nursery grounds: Mangroves provide ideal breeding grounds for much of the world's fish, shrimp, crabs, and other shellfish. Many fish species, such as barracuda, tarpon, and snook, find shelter among the mangrove roots as juveniles, head out to forage in the seagrass beds as they grow, and move into the open ocean as adults. An estimated 75 percent of commercially caught fish spend some time in the mangroves or depend on food webs that can be traced back to these coastal forests.

Home to many species: Mangrove forests provide habitat for thousands of species at all levels of marine and forest food webs, from bacteria to barnacles. The trees shelter insect species, attracting birds which also take cover in the dense branches. These coastal forests are prime nesting and resting sites for hundreds of shorebirds and migratory bird species, including kingfishers, herons, and egrets. Crabeating macaque monkeys, fishing cats, and giant monitor lizards hunt among the mangroves, along with endangered species such as olive Ridley turtles, white breasted sea eagles, tree climbing fish, proboscis monkeys, and dugongs. And the soft soil beneath mangrove roots enables burrowing species such as snails and clams to lie in wait. Other species, such as crabs and shrimp, forage in the fertile mud.

Food for the multitudes: The tons of leaves that fall from each acre of mangrove forest every year are the basis of an incredibly productive food web. As the leaves decay, they provide nutrients for invertebrates and algae. These in turn feed many small organisms, such as birds, sponges, worms, anemones, jellyfish, shrimp, and young fishes. Tides also circulate nutrients among mudflats, estuaries, and coral reefs, thus feeding species like oysters that rest on the seabed.

Clean water: Mangroves protect both the saltwater and the freshwater ecosystems they straddle. The mangroves' complex root systems filter nitrates and phosphates that rivers and streams carry to the sea. They also keep seawater from encroaching on inland waterways.

A stable coastline: Mangrove roots collect the silt and sediment that tides carry in and rivers carry out towards the sea. By holding the soil in place, the trees stabilize shorelines against erosion. Seedlings that take root on sandbars help stabilize the sandbars over time and may eventually create small islands.

Shelter from the storm: The thickets of mangroves that buttress tidal mudflats also provide a buffer zone that protects the land from wind and wave damage. Places where mangroves have been cut down for shrimp farms are far more vulnerable to destructive cyclones and tidal waves.

Resources for humans: Mangrove forests provide many of the resources upon which coastal people depend for their survival and livelihood. At low tide, people can walk across the tidal flats to collect clams, shellfish, and shrimp. At high tide, fish move in to feed among the protection of mangrove roots, turning the marshy land into rich fishing grounds. The mangrove trees themselves provide fuel, medicines, tannins, and wood for building.

We have been funded by Australian Embassy in Kenya, Ocean Network Express, Radicant Bank, Rituals, Climate partner Impact, Ecosystem Restoration Communities, Luisa Cerano, Herpetofauna Foundation, UNDP, SLOVAK Aid, KCDP-World Bank funded Project, IDEA WILD, Equity Bank Group, PLATINUM CREDIT LIMITED, Plant for the planet, The Pollination Project, local and international individuals.

To reach our restoration goals and also to improve the local sustainable management of the mangrove forest, we consistently rely on donations. Currently, we focus on planting mangrove seedlings, improving the bee keeping and expanding the marine farming projects.

If you would like to support us and have any questions, please visit our website brainyouthgroup.org or contact Mubarak mubarakbrain@gmail.com

Thank you very much for your support!