The Rotary club of Mombasa Nyali, in collaboration with EarthLungs, have been in partnership the last one year to plant more mangroves for climate mitigation and have planted and grown a total of 1,460 mangroves in Majaoni.
By Dr. Peter Michael Oduor-Odote
District Governor Wairimu Njage joined Rotary Clubs at the Kenyan coast in planting mangroves, both as a source of economic empowerment and environment conservation that leads to climate change mitigation as is
Mangroves are one of the biggest carbon sinks in the world right now thus affecting climate change positively. By removal of carbon through mangrove planting, communities involved can participate in carbon trade, which creates more sustainability for the project because of income generation.
District Governor Wairimu Njage joined Rotary Clubs at the Kenyan coast in planting mangroves, both as a source of economic empowerment and environment conservation that leads to climate change mitigation as is
Mangroves are one of the biggest carbon sinks in the world right now thus affecting climate change positively. By removal of carbon through mangrove planting, communities involved can participate in carbon trade, which creates more sustainability for the project because of income generation.
The Rotary club of Mombasa Nyali, in collaboration with EarthLungs, have been in partnership the last one year to plant more mangroves for climate mitigation and have planted and grown a total of 1,460 mangroves in Majaoni. In August, another 3,000 mangroves were planted in partnership with other Rotary clubs at the coast.
Earthlungs on their own have since 2022 planted more than two million seedlings and have an area of 286 hectares with a potential for planting a total of five million more mangroves. This means more than three million mangroves are yet to be planted.
Assuming that one fully grown mangrove tree sequesters 12.98 kilograms of carbon dioxide per tree per year, then for three million mangroves to be planted in the remaining spaces, the total sequestration will be 3,000,000 by 12.98 kilograms or 38,940,000 kilograms or 38,940 tonnes when stock is fully grown.
Earthlungs have an innovative model “Ka-Finje”- a movement launched in 2023. Under the initiative, companies and individuals sponsor mangrove tree planting and growing at a cost of 70 Kenyan shillings per tree.
The contributions go beyond restoration as they also support community livelihood extended to monthly wages for local workers, Social Health Insurance Fund medical coverage, National Social Security Fund savings, education and food security improvements. Earthlungs currently has 47,855 healthy seedlings ready for transplanting onto the ecosystem.
Rotary clubs at the coast, together with the leadership of Rotary District 9212 should therefore adopt this site of three million mangroves potential to mitigate climate change by growing mangroves to sink carbon.