The future of the Tana River Delta for its people and the wildlife it supports has been a regular feature on this blog. The overwhelming threats to this special place and the successful campaign to save it is one of the most inspirational stories we have featured so it is a real delight to bring news of international recognition of the plan that was the direct result of the campaign. You can catch up on earlier instalments here, as my colleague Lesley Safford, takes up the story:
The Tana River Delta Land Use Plan (LUP) and Tana River Delta Strategic Environmental Assessment have been selected as a finalist by a panel of independent judges for the Royal Town Planning Institute’s International Award for Planning Excellence 2016, the first time they have hosted this category.
The Tana River Delta is rich in wildlife because of the diverse habitats that can be found there: extensive areas of mangroves, forests fringing the rivers, wetlands, lagoons, grasslands and beaches. The Delta has is of global importance reflected in its recognition as a wetland of international importance by the Ramsar Convention. Birdlife International designated it as an Important Bird Area and one of the key sites in Kenya for waterbird conservation. It’s home to internationally important populations of no less than 22 species including the endangered Basra reed warbler and Malindi pipit. The Tana River Primate National Reserve is a refuge for the critically endangered Tana River red colobus and Tana crested mangabey and the delta itself holds dugongs, turtles and many species of fish.
Threatened by unsustainable development – and you can read all about that here, Nature Kenya and the RSPB developed an alternative approach, the Tana Land Use plan, funded by the UK Department for International Development, and the first in Kenya to be based on strategic environmental assessment. The plan has the Delta’s environment at its heart and aims to balance agriculture and pastoralism across 60% of the delta, the remaining 40% of land being allocated to urban and new industrial development as well as vital conservation zones to protect ecosystem services.
It’s worth exploring, for a moment, what that phrase ‘ecosystem services’ actually means as it cuts straight to the core of the relationship between the Delta and the people who live there and depend on it. Not only do the river forests lock up carbon but the habitats of the Delta – so crucial to the wildlife – provide grass, reeds, palm leaves, fuel wood and building materials from which the majority of homes are built. Fruits, nuts, honey, edible roots and medicinal plants are utilised by the local people. The dunes store fresh rain water and, along with the mangroves protect the coast from sea surges. The Delta’s mangroves also provide shelter and food for fish. The plan not only seeks to sustain traditional livelihoods but also develop new sustainable economic activities including bee keeping, mango production, milk and meat. And of course the rich wildlife of the area supports a largely undeveloped tourism industry.
In June 2015 NatureKenya, in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was awarded US$ 2.54 million from the Global Environment Facility to enhance natural resource management in the Delta to reverse the loss of wildlife and land degradation to protect those critical ecosystem services.
However, crucially, NatureKenya, in partnership with the Tana River and Lamu county governments and RSPB are currently seeking additional funding to develop an innovative way ofimplementing the LUP. The model will be based around a ‘Tana Sustainable Development Board’ (TSDB) which will ensure that proposed developments are in line with the LUP.
The TSDB will have representation from the two County Governments, local pastoralists, fishing and farming communities, the local business community, NatureKenya and key local investors. The TSDB will promote the development of business partnerships between the private investors and the local community. Businesses will be housed in a ‘Green Industrial Park’, meeting strict environmental and socio-economic criteria and form a model for industrial development at other sites in the Delta.
Lessons learnt from the implementation of the Tana LUP will be used by the Government of Kenya’s Delta Development Board, which is overseeing replication of the LUP-SEA at five other sites, beginning with Yala Swamp.
So, fingers crossed for the award ceremony in May – we’ll bring you the news as soon as we can!
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