KURUWITU CONSERVATION and WELFARE ASSOCIATION (KCWA) Kenya
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Empowered lives. Resilient nations. KURUWITU CONSERVATION AND WELFARE ASSOCIATION (KCWA) Kenya Equator Initiative Case Studies Local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities UNDP EQUATOR INITIATIVE CASE STUDY SERIES Local and indigenous communities across the world are marine, forest, grassland, dryland and wetland ecosystems. advancing innovative sustainable development solutions Selected from 806 nominations from across 120 countries, that work for people and for nature. Few publications or the winners were celebrated at a gala event in New York, case studies tell the full story of how such initiatives evolve, coinciding with Global Goals Week and the 72nd Session the breadth of their impacts, or how they change over of the UN General Assembly. Special emphasis was placed time. Fewer still have undertaken to tell these stories with on scalable, nature-based solutions to address biodiversity community practitioners themselves guiding the narrative. conservation, climate change adaptation, disaster risk The Equator Initiative aims to fill that gap. reduction, gender equality, land rights, and food and water The Equator Initiative, supported by generous funding security to reduce poverty, protect nature, and strengthen from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation resilience. (NORAD) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), awarded the The following case study is one in a growing series that Equator Prize 2017 to 15 outstanding local community describes vetted and peer-reviewed best practices intended and indigenous peoples initiatives from 12 countries. The to inspire the policy dialogue needed to scale nature- winners were recognized for their significant work to advance based solutions essential to achieving the Sustainable nature-based solutions for sustainable development in Development Goals. PROJECT SUMMARY KEY FACTS In 2003, members of the Kuruwitu community Equator Prize Winner who were concerned about the degradation 2017 of their seas set up the Kuruwitu Conservation and Welfare Association (KCWA). Overfishing for Founded subsistence, climate change, and uncontrolled fish and coral collection by the aquarium trade needed 2003 to be addressed before the marine ecosystem was Location damaged beyond repair. Elders who could remember how healthy and productive the sea had been Vipingo, Kilifi County, Kenya decades ago felt it necessary to act. In 2006, they took the unprecedented step of setting aside a 30-hectare Beneficiaries Marine Protected Area (MPA). This was the first 15,000 direct beneficiaries; 30,000 indirect beneficiaries coral-based Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) in Kenya. Since then, the area has made a remarkable Areas of focus recovery. With fishing prohibited within the MPA, Marine conservation, coral reef restoration, sustainable fish have grown in abundance, size, and diversity. fishing, ecotourism, and other alternative income generation The area has become a breeding ground, leading to activities to improve community welfare and community an increase in fish within the MPA as well as outside. rights This spillover means fishermen see greater catches. At the same time, biodiversity of all marine life has been Sustainable Development Goals Addressed restored and continues to flourish, making Kuruwitu a destination for ecotourism and creating jobs for guides, boat captains, and rangers. e 36° 37° 38° 39° 40° Guenal 41° 42° Negēlē SOUTH Konso SUDAN Administrative 5° Boundary 5° Yabelo KENYA Houdat D Kelem aw a Ch'ew Bahir Todenyang ETHIOPIA Banya Sabarei Lokichokio Mega Dolo Odo Sibiloi National Park 4 4 ° Lake Turkana Banissa ° Ramu Mandera Kakuma (Lake Rudolf) Kaabong Lokwa Kangole Central I. Central Island N. P. Moyale Takaba North Horr Lodwar 3 3 ° l ° e El Wak w Buna k Loiyangalani El Beru Hagia r u South I. T Moroto South Island N. P. Lokichar Marsabit Marsabit National Park UGANDA Tarbaj 2° Lokori EASTERN Girito 2° South Turkana Nat. Reserve L. Bisinga Baragoi Wajir L. Oputa Losai National Reserve m a Laisamis u S RIFT VALLEY L aga B o r Tot Mbale Mount Elgon N. P. Maralal Game Sanctuary Maralal Log Dif 1 Kitale o a 1 ° ir Habaswein Bo ° Archer's g' g Kisima a SOMALIA Post o N l Lorule Ewas Tororo WESTERN L. Baringo Mado Gashi Webuye Eldoret Busia Marigat Shaba Nat. Res. NORTH- Kinna Liboi Butere Kakamega Nyahururu Isiolo EASTERN Bisanadi a (Thomson's Falls) Meru er Bilis Qooqaani Nanyuki Nat. Res. Rahole Nat. Lak D Meru Nat. Reserve Solai Hagadera L 0° Kisumu Mt. Kenya Park 0° a Londiani 5199 m k T e Nakuru Mt. Kenya Nat. Park North Kora National a na Aberdares Kericho Molo Kitui Reserve Nyeri N. P. Mfangano I. Nat. Garissa V Homa Bay Gilgil Res. i CENTRAL Embu c Kisii t Naivasha o NYANZA Murang'a r L. Naivasha Nguni i a Masinga 1 Thika Mwingi 1 ° Migori Narok Reservoir Bura ° NAIROBI Kolbio Buur Gaabo AREA Arawale Nat. Res. Nairobi Kitui Hola Kaambooni Musoma Masai Mara Nat. Res. Machakos Boni Nat. Res. A t h Tana River Primate Nat. Res. i L. Magadi Kajiado South Kitui Nat. Res. Dodori Nat. Res. Magadi Sultan-Hamud 2° 2° KENYA Garsen Lamu Pate I. Lake Kibwezi Lamu I. Manda I. Natron Namanga Amboseli Nat. Park COAST L. Amboseli Mtito Andei Tsavo East National Park Ungama Bay Tsavo 3° Kilimanjaro Galana 3° 5895 m Tsavo Tsavo West Malindi Moshi Nat.Park Arusha Voi National capital Taveta Provincional capital Kilifi INDIAN Nyumba Ya Mungi Town, village Reservoir Mariakanii OCEAN Airport 4° Same 4° International boundary Mombasa Shimba Hills Nat. Park Provincional boundary Main road The boundaries and names shown and the designations Secondary road UNITED used on this map do not imply official endorsement or Moa acceptance by the United Nations. Other road or track REPUBLIC OF 5° Railroad TANZANIA Wete 0 50 100 150 5° Tanga Korogwe 0 25 50 75 100 mi 34° 35° 36° 37° 38° 39° Pemba I. 40° 41° 42° Map No. 4187 Rev. 3 UNITED NATIONS Department of Field Support December 2011 Cartographic Section EQUATOR PRIZE 2017 WINNER FILM The designations employed and the presentation of material on this map do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations or UNDP concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT The Kuruwitu community extends approximately 12 and vervet monkeys, baboons, monitor lizards, hedgehogs, kilometre along the coast of Kenya, 40 kilometre north of owls, genet cats, dik-dik, bush pigs, and many other species Mombasa and 20 kilometre south of Kilifi. The area covers of birds and animals, some of which are endemic. six landing sites and three villages, all of which encompass a population of approximately 30,000 people, mostly of Population growth on the Kenyan coast has led to the Mijikenda tribe. Renowned for its sandy beaches and increased fishing pressure, pushing fisheries to their limit clear water, the area harbours coral reefs, coral platforms, and threatening the livelihoods of local communities. This caves, and lagoons. Kuruwitu’s diverse coral assemblages is also the case in Kuruwitu, where the local population are populated by many species of ornamental fish, is regularly augmented by a seasonal influx of part-time stingrays, groupers, sweetlips, catfish, parrotfish, rabbitfish or holiday property owners. Kuruwitu residents depend and triggerfish, emperor fish, eels, molluscs, and a diverse on fishing as their main livelihood, along with some range of other sea creatures. These waters are also home subsistence farming and small-scale businesses that to endangered sea turtles that nest in the area, such as provide substitute incomes. the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), the olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys Land rights along the Kenyan coast are complex, with olivacea), and the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata). many long-term residents not legally owning their land The reefs and seagrass beds are threatened by the impacts due to complicated transfers of colonial power. The of climate change. government is now addressing tenure issues through a process of identifying and transferring ownership to Inshore, there is a unique mangrove forest nearly 1 communities throughout Kenya. Nevertheless, few of the kilometre from the sea. The interconnected sea-mangrove indigenous peoples that live there have ownership or use swamp and coastal forest habitat is home to many plants rights to land, and therefore are considered squatters. and wildlife including bush babies, Sykes’ monkeys, blue Generally, they can use the land, but only as tenants. Origin and structure Local resident Des Bowden and fisherman Dickson The majority of the initial 150 KCWA members and their Juma founded the Kuruwitu Conservation and Welfare families were landless squatters who were entirely Association (KCWA) in 2003 after residents at Kuruwitu had dependent on natural resources for their survival. realised that their livelihoods were under threat due to Hence, KCWA’s main aim was to address problems of massive degradation of the marine and coastal resources environmental degradation while simultaneously tackling in the area. The older fishermen talked of abundant some of the poverty issues caused by the near collapse of fishing in their youth, but the dwindling catches were a fishing, and addressing the rights of the community. From stark warning. It was clear that if the overuse of available the start, KCWA was guided by the twin aims of protecting marine resources continued, there would be nothing left the environment and building financial resilience in the to fish. This would have disastrous consequences for a community. KCWA set about creating a programme for community who had for generations depended on the sustainable use and self-governance of marine resources. sea for their livelihood. The primary causes of marine degradation in the area were overfishing from a growing In 2006, KCWA members agreed to initiate the first coral population, the unregulated harvest of coral and shellfish, reef Locally Managed Marine Area (LMMA) in Kenya.