By Moses Ziro | Project Leader
The ravages of the corona pandemic are subsiding, having left the communities in Wasini Island reeling from the effects of the pandemic on tourism. The pandemic re-set the clock on marine tourism-related activities and denied the community of incomes to support community livelihoods and the conservation activities at the locally managed marine conserved area.
The tourism-related activities have begun to pick up again, albeit at a slow pace. A meeting with key stakeholders at Shimoni, Kwale County on 12th November 2021 attended by 15 representatives of Beach Manage Units (BMUs) along the Shimoni-Vanga seascape, identified the challenges they were facing and recommended solutions for these challenges. Key challenges identified included low tourism-related incomes, inadequate resources to support marine patrols, and the rising impacts of climate change on marine resources. These challenges, the leaders admitted, could compel community members to revert to unsustainable fishing practices and destroy the conservation gains of the past three years if not addressed.
The Wasini community resolved to continue with the rehabilitation activities in and around the coral reefs, regular marine patrols, and initiate sensitization activities on climate change. They also noted that these activities require financial resources to sustain them. They, however, prioritized actions to revive local tourism as key to unlocking financial resources for the other activities.
The community plans to rehabilitate at least an acre of coral reef by March 2022 at an initial cost of USD 7000. Africa Nature Organization has agreed to organize a tour of 15 people from across the country to visit and plant corals at the reef between December 2021 and January 2022 to set the pace for subsequent marine tourism tours by various groups across the country to boost tourist traffic to the island.
To sustain these activities, the communities require your support. Every single and multiple donation counts! Kindly use the link below to DONATE!
Thank YOU!
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
