Efforts are being made to combat climate change by building a “green wall” of mangrove trees along the coastlines in East and Southern Africa. Mangroves, which absorb and store huge quantities of carbon, absorb five times more carbon than terrestrial forests due to their waterlogged sediments, making them an ideal tool to fight climate change. The trees grow in salt water and consist mainly of a huge forest in the Kenyan coastline that covers around 60,000 hectares, which is roughly 3% of the natural forest cover. This population is largely located in Lamu, Kilifi, Mombasa, Kwale and parts of the Tana River counties. Loss of the mangrove forests was a concern due to human activity, such as burning them for fuel or cutting them down for timber. However, there has been quick intervention by state and non-state actors through extensive community awareness programs and sensitisation on the importance of mangrove ecosystems which allowed the communities to devise non-destructive ways of living. Another stakeholder in the fight against carbon dioxide emission is the Kenya Ports Authority which has joined other stakeholders to combat climate change with focus on decarbonising Mombasa port city, which includes planting more mangrove trees known to have the potential to capture carbon dioxide from the air. Kenya now aims to increase its population of mangroves along the coastal line to capture carbon dioxide five times faster than any other plant.
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It is important that carbon credit schemes also benefit local communities.
The World Meteorological Organisation has stated that 193 countries have given unanimous backing to a scheme to monitor global greenhouse...
