Bio-diversity

The indigenous communities within Lamu have contributed to the conservation and sustainable use of this biodiversity over time, given the traditionally symbiotic relationship with their natural resources. For instance, the Aweer and Sanye indigenous peoples practice sustainable gathering of honey and wild fruits, and maintain sacred sites within forest boundaries. By maintaining traditional conservation practices, the Bajun have used shifting cultivation of farms to replenish vital nutrients in the soils. Bajun mangrove cutters have, for centuries, used the most sustainable methods of mangrove harvesting, which has preserved the vitality of the forest. However, traditional conservation practices are in decline as communities become increasingly disconnected with their lands and natural resources, fuelled by pressures to survive, a changing physical landscape, including the impending LAPSSET project and uncertainty of community rights to manage and steward certain areas of Lamu County. In lieu of the new constitution, co-management and communal land rights have been accorded to marginalized and indigenous groups across the country. Furthermore, traditional laws and alternative mechanisms of dispute resolution and resource management have been promoted by the constitution. This includes the models of community forest management as per the Forest Act 2005, and communal land rights in the 2012 Land Act. Despite these stipulated rights, the Lamu community has long been sidelined from co-managing their resources. Part of the reason attributed to this has been the lack of adequate documentation of traditional management practices of the indigenous Lamu community, as well as the lack of knowledge on the extent of the resources currently being utilized and traditionally managed by the local communities. This project therefore seeks to strengthen the communities of Lamu to drive the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in their county by documenting the traditional knowledge on the practices of resource utilization in the region. The funding requested will support crucial activities including education on traditional conservation practices, customary laws on sustainable use of biodiversity, national rights and responsibilities and local governance. In addition, the funding will support participatory mapping of natural resources that will supplement the BCP so as to better understand community usage of natural resources such as fish, mainland and coastal forests (such as mangroves), highlight species-rich areas (such as sacred sites, which often contain diverse biodiversity because they are untouched) and biodiversity hotspots which are areas where natural vegetation is threatened. Mapping these areas will in turn inform and be informed by the customary rules that the community will develop for sustainably use in their BCP and associated resource management plans. Furthermore, this mapping can be cross-checked with plans for the development of the Lamu Port to obtain a better understanding of areas that will and won t be affected and to develop measures mitigating harm. It will also support participatory video developed by the communities of Lamu, to raise awareness of conservation issues, the BCP process, communicate the relevant rules that apply to them, plans for the future and impacts by not conserving their traditional resources. Support to the project will be provided by Natural Justice: lawyers for communities and the environment4 and the Access and Benefit Sharing Capacity Development Initiative.5

Kenya