Seacology has worked aggressively to protect mangrove habitats, the carbon-sequestering, coast-shielding, ecosystem-nurturing trees that grow in warm brackish waters around the world. Our nationwide mangrove project in Sri Lanka has received most of the headlines, but we’ve also launched dozens of smaller, community-based mangrove projects. One such effort, on Kenya’s Sii Island, is nearly complete.

In 2016, Seacology began working with three villages on the island—Jimbo, Vanga, and Kiwengu—to protect nearly 2,000 acres of mangroves and replant thousands of trees which had been illegally cut. In support of this locally led conservation effort, Seacology funded the construction of an office to oversee the management and enforcement of the new reserve.

Work on the office is nearly complete, and our local partners have now planted more than 7,000 mangrove seedlings. The community is also in discussions with other regional organizations and the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute about the participating in a carbon-offset program, which could lead to further economic opportunities for the proactive islanders.