Environment Program
Between the mid-1980s to 2009, up to 450 hectares of mangrove cover in Kenya was reportedly lost every year. Presently it is estimated that 40% of the remaining mangrove areas in the country are degraded. In Tudor Creek, Mombasa County (our focus area), up to a minimum of 80% of the original mangrove cover was lost between the early 1990s and 2009.
The Tudor Creek in Mombasa County is listed nationally among the highly degraded peri-urban mangrove ecosystems. This situation propelled our interest to conserve the nature around it to ensure that neighboring communities have a safe and sustainable resource to depend on.
Big Ship has done institutional studies and mapping to understand the level of its degradation. This 2019 report highlights the exact degraded areas and permanent canopy areas (GIS analysis of Tudor Creek). By 2020, over 2000 acres of degraded area in need of active restoration had been identified. See attached colored image-Map Area of untouched areas and a map of potential areas for future restoration.
We have a well-developed Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR) Strategy highlighting the Adopt A Site mangrove restoration model that helps the organization to develop and manage its interventions along the Creek. The strategy also provides guidance in resource mobilization as well as in soliciting moral, technical, and legal support in ensuring effective service delivery.
Waste Management Program
We have a passion for a clean neighborhood. Since inception, we have been involved in waste management activities from waste collection, resource recovery, and advocacy for a clean environment.
Waste collection is key. Some of the strategies we have employed over time include developing partnerships with community waste collection groups to increase the rate of waste collection from the households.
With scarcity of land within Mombasa West for disposal of waste, Big Ship has also adopted a material recovery and recycling model to ensure that a lot of the waste collected is diverted from landfill. This creates value for resource rich waste materials.
At the center of our waste management program implementation, a strategy paper (include hyperlink to the document here) was developed to guide the operations and partnerships for sustainable waste management activities in Mombasa. We have piloted several models, well documented proof of concepts and we are pursuing opportunities to ensure scaling of the same in Mombasa.
Empowerment Program
Big Ship is the steward in promoting local ownership of the environmental agenda. We do this by developing Environment Ambassadors to propel environmental campaigns in future. We have included early and basic education institutions as well as universities to enhance student knowledge and build their skills & potential for impacting on the changing world. Moreover, we also urge all actors to be ambassadors of the ‘Healthy Environment for a Prospering Nation’ rallying call.
