Profiling Kenya – The Arabuko-Sokoke Forest

General description

The Arabuko-Sokoke Forest (ASF) is a 420 square km coastal forest located on the Malindi-Watamu coastline adjacent to A Rocha Kenya’s neighbouring study site of Mida Creek. The area is the largest remnant of the once expansive forest belt that spanned the East African coast from Somalia to Mozambique. 6,000 ha of the ASF is designated as a forest reserve with a further 600 ha as National Park. The forest comprises three distinct areas: mixed forest on the wetter eastern coastal sands, open woodland in the central infertile region and dense shady Cynometra thicket covering the rest of the site. This diversity of habitats supports a rich and broad variety of flora and fauna including many rare and endangered species.

Importance for conservation

Kenya’s coastal areas contain 50% of the country's rare or threatened plants, 60% of its birds and 65% of its animals. The World Wide Fund for Nature has designated East African coastal forests as a priority in their “Global 200 Eco-Regions” Programme. BirdLife International has ranked the area as one of the most important forests for the protection of rare mainland African birds and also designated the area as an Important Bird Area. The forest is home to six globally threatened birds including the Amani Sunbird (Anthreptes pallidigaster), Clarke's Weaver (Ploceus golandi), Sokoke Pipit (Anthus sokokensis), East Coast Akalat (Sheppardia gunningi), Spotted Ground Thrush (Zoothera guttata) and Sokoke Scops Owl (Otus ireneae) and other rare and endangered species such as the Golden-rumped Elephant Shrew (Rhynchocyon chrysopygus).

Conservation concerns

Despite varying degrees of protection and policing, the forest habitats and the endangered species within are under considerable threat from illegal logging and firewood collection and disturbance through tourism. Despite restrictions local people are forced by poverty to find a way to support themselves, so they still poach, remove trees to sell and use for firewood, and undertake illegal logging for minimal pay. These activities are thought to be threatening the rare Sokoke Scops Owl, Golden-rumped Elephant Shrew, and the Muhuhu tree which is now critically endangered. The restrictions have led to resentment within local communities toward the forest authorities and a perspective that they benefit very little from the forest. These factors make promotion and conservation of the forest all the more challenging.

Achievements to date

To tackle the problems of illegal forest destruction by local people and bring tangible benefits to villagers from the forest, A Rocha Kenya set up the Arabuko-Sokoke Schools and Ecotourism Scheme (ASSETS) in 2001. Through funds raised by ecotourism projects within the locality, such as tree canopy wildlife viewing platforms in the Arabuko-Sokoke forest, bursaries are provided for local school children. Education is too expensive for most families, so the funds provide a way for children to go to school without their families having to undertake illegal hunting or logging to support them. The project, which by 2005 incorporated 122 students, also supplies villagers with the means to plant and grow trees to provide their firewood and involves them in environmental education and conservation projects in the forest. ASSETS provides local people with benefits that come from the forest and a reason for caring for it.

Vision for the future

The ASSETS programme has already proved successful in promoting sustainable ecotourism, providing funding for education and demonstrating the benefits that the local people can gain from the forest without undertaking illegal activities. In the future A Rocha wants to continue expanding ASSETS with the goal of including 1,100 students by 2015. Through this programme it is hoped that further destruction of the forest will decline, endangered species will be afforded more protection and local tourism will become increasingly sustainably managed.