Enhancing Integrated Coastal Forests Biodiversity Hotspot Management and Restoration for Increased Ecosystem Services in Kenya

The coastal forests of Kenya are recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot due to the high concentrations of narrowly endemic plants and animals. Despite their importance, these forests face significant threats, including rapid human population growth, encroachment, overexploitation, forest fires, and overgrazing. These are exacerbated by: 1) Inadequate integration of biodiversity into county level plans and regulatory frameworks, 2) Limited technical capacity of existing institutions and their personnel, 3) Poor Forest management and conservation, and 4) Limited knowledge and awareness of forest management and biodiversity conservation and poor land management practices resulting in ecosystem degradation and fragmentation. The proposed project will focus on two key sites of the coastal forests in Kilifi County, namely, Dakatcha Woodland and Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. The project is designed around four components: 1). Promoting mainstreaming of biodiversity conservation in county plans and regulatory frameworks, 2). Building and strengthening institutional and individual management capacity, 3). Restoration and management effectiveness for long-term health of coastal forests, and 4). Knowledge management, learning, monitoring and evaluation. The project will adopt an integrated landscape approach that combines biodiversity mainstreaming, participatory forest management, ecosystem restoration, sustainable land management, community-led conservation, and strengthened multi-stakeholder coordination mechanisms. The project will improve the status of biodiversity by enhancing consideration of biodiversity conservation measures in planning and regulatory frameworks, improve forest management effectiveness, restore degraded forests, promote sustainable land management, and improve utilization of forest management tools. The project will further support establishment and strengthening of Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs), improve ecosystem resilience, strengthen climate adaptation, enhance ecosystem connectivity, and improve sustainable livelihoods for forest-dependent communities. The project will contribute to: BD-1-3 (Ecosystem restoration), BD-1-4 (Biodiversity mainstreaming), LD1 (Sustainable land management) and LD2 (Landscape restoration). The project will also contribute to SDG goals 1, 6, 12, 13, 15, 17, and KMGBF targets 1-6, 8, 15, 19 , 22 and 23. The project will be executed by the Nature Kenya through a total budget of USD 26,341,281 (GEF USD 2,956,621and co-financing USD 23,384,660).