CORDIO East Africa

🌿 Building Community Capacity for Website Management and Ownership🌊 Ahead of the International Day for Biological Diversity (#IDB2026), we are celebrating the communities of Kaya Kinondo and Chale, who are set to complete the Diani–Shimoni pilot of the Blue Tourism Initiative (BTI) next week. The Kaya Kinondo Conservation and Development CBO is a community-led organization working to conserve the Kaya Kinondo Sacred Forest while promoting cultural heritage, indigenous knowledge, and nature-based tourism. The forest is home to a rich variety of biodiversity, including endemic tree species, medicinal plants, birds, butterflies and sacred cultural sites that have long been protected through traditional community stewardship practices. 🌳🌳🌳 Their Chale counterparts — the Chale Boat Operators Self Help Group — are focused on community-led eco-tourism, with particular attention to the protection of coral reefs and marine ecosystems through responsible tourism practices, visitor education, and sustainable marine activities. 🌊🪸🌊 Last week, their designated digital champions, alongside our mangrove restoration community partners — the Tunusuru Women’s Group — completed a practical website management and digital communication training focused on strengthening long-term ownership of community digital platforms. As part of this effort, dedicated tourism websites were developed for the two groups: 🌐 www.kayakinondotrails.com 🌐 www.chaleadventures.com Facilitated by consultants Jesse Otumba and Tillen Otuoma, the training introduced participants to WordPress and Elementor management, website security, phishing awareness, media handling, and domain and hosting management. Participants also gained hands-on experience editing their own website pages, updating tourism information, managing images, and creating blog posts and stories that showcase their conservation work, cultural heritage, and tourism experiences directly from the community perspective. As the Diani–Shimoni pilot concludes, these efforts reflect a broader vision of the Blue Tourism Initiative in the Western Indian Ocean: supporting coastal communities to conserve biodiversity while strengthening local livelihoods, visibility, and ownership through sustainable and inclusive tourism. #Biodiversityday #BlueTourism #BlueEconomy #CommunityTourism #SustainableTourism #MarineConservation #ForestConservation #CoastalCommunities  

Join us in congratulating our Senior Scientist Dr. Karin Moejes on being selected as a 2026 recipient of the Daughters for Earth Female Climate Scientists Fund. 🌍🪸. More details below.

As we count down to the FFN Award Event next Friday, we’re proud to introduce our Guest of Honour: David Obura 🌍 Chair of Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, 2023–2026), Founding Director of CORDIO East Africa and member of the Earth Commission, David is a global leader in biodiversity and sustainability science. His work spans coral reef resilience, climate change, and nature–climate interactions, helping drive solutions for a more sustainable future. 🪸🌊 A recipient of Kenya’s national honour Moran of the Burning Spear and the International Coral Reef Society’s Coral Reef Conservation Award, his impact reaches across science, policy, and global action. We’re honoured to welcome him to the FFN stage!

🌊 Sustaining Community-Led Blue Tourism in Diani–Shimoni, Kenya 🌍 As the Blue Tourism Initiative (BTI) pilot phase approaches completion, the emphasis is shifting toward strengthening long-term sustainability and reinforcing local ownership. We are consolidating earlier gains and ensuring that community partners are positioned not only as participants, but as capable managers of their own tourism enterprises. Key long-standing partners of the Kenya pilot—Kaya Kinondo Conservation and Development CBO and the Chale Boat Operators Self Help Group—have recently received targeted support in the following areas: 📌 Provision of operational assets - Camping equipment - Snorkelling and diving gear, including underwater cameras - Boat safety equipment - Laptops, operational materials, and branded communications tools 📌 Upgrading of operational infrastructure Renovation of reception and visitor facilities to improve service delivery and strengthen day-to-day operations 📌 Resource mobilization capacity strengthening (in collaboration with the Wildlife Research and Training Institute) - Proposal development and fundraising skills - Identification of funding opportunities - Alignment of initiatives with donor priorities and funding frameworks Collectively, these interventions are designed to extend beyond short-term outputs. They contribute to stronger institutional foundations, improved operational readiness, and enhanced capacity for resource mobilization. Together, these elements support continuity, adaptive growth, and longer-term resilience of community-led tourism enterprises. This approach is driven by the broader objective of the BTI across the Western Indian Ocean: to support inclusive, environmentally responsible, and economically viable tourism systems that strengthen the role of coastal communities in shaping and benefiting from the blue economy 🌍 #BlueTourism #BlueEconomy #SustainableTourism #CommunityBasedTourism #MarineConservation #CoastalCommunities #DianiShimoni #WesternIndianOcean

📢 April 2026 Western Indian Ocean Coral Bleaching Alert 🌊 🌡️SSTs across the Western Indian Ocean have increased again in March–April, returning to the elevated levels observed over the past three years. Despite this, bleaching observations across the region have remained minimal. This may reflect the impacts of significant mortality in 2024, as well as relatively cooler conditions earlier in the year (January–February). 🔗Full alert: https://lnkd.in/d24Eyr9m #coralbleaching #corals #climatechange

Advancing Coral Reef Conservation and Management in Kenya 🪸🌊 Our dive team, alongside researchers from Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) OFFICIAL and Kenya Wildlife Service wardens, completed a week-long survey across key sites in Watamu Marine National Park and Reserve, including proposed fish replenishment zones 🪸 This work updates long-term #datasets on benthic composition, coral recruitment, colony size and condition, and fish abundance—helping to close critical data gaps from the past five years and expand monitoring to new sites, building on contributions dating back to 2014 📊🐠 Funded by the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, the findings will strengthen upcoming IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (#RLE) assessments and support adaptive management of Watamu’s reefs—ecosystems that underpin biodiversity, fisheries, tourism, and shark populations 🦈🌍 We’re grateful for the strong collaboration and support from Kenya Wildlife Service (with special thanks to Watamu Marine Park Warden Mr. Willys Osore), Bahari Hai for logistics, Watamu BMU for coordination, KMFRI for dive support, and Extra Divers Dive Centre for their excellent service throughout 🙏 Complete dive team and support: Clare Thouless, Melita Samoilys, Karin Moejes, Diana Jepkoech Karan, Nimrod Ishmael, Dr. Juliet Karisa, Mohammed Omar Hamisi, Said Shee, Shadrack Zia, and Bwatumu Said. #CoralReefs #ReefMonitoring #MarineScience #Watamu #Kenya #OceanConservation #Sustainability

🦈 From Strategy to Practice: Turning the Tide for Sharks and Rays in Kenya The road to reversing the decline of sharks and rays in Kenya remains complex and long one, though there is reason to hope. Two months ago, we announced the release of a Conservation Strategy for Key Threatened Sharks and Rays in Kenya — a milestone shaped by collaboration between government, scientists, NGOs, and, importantly, fisher communities. The strategy spells out a shared direction: moving beyond protection alone toward more practical management of fisheries, improved data, and stronger involvement of the people who interact with these species every day. With 19 goals and a wide set of actions, it reflects both the scale of the challenge and the need for coordinated implementation. Mongabay's Antony Langat recently interviewed several key stakeholders, including CORDIO Director Melita Samoilys, to examine how this strategy is being received on the ground and what it could realistically change in the near term. Some of the more promising elements are already visible: growing interest in locally managed marine areas (LMMAs), early signs that fishers are open to participating in management measures, and a clearer focus on linking conservation actions to viable livelihood options. These are practical entry points — and how they are supported and scaled will shape what this strategy delivers over time. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dBu8FmJK Kenya Wildlife Service, Wildlife Research and Training Institute, The Nature Conservancy in Africa #MarineConservation #BlueEconomy #Kenya #Fisheries #Biodiversity

🌊 A key milestone for the Sainte-Marie pilot of the Blue Tourism Initiative🏖️ We are pleased to share the successful launch of the Sainte-Marie ECO Label certification in #Madagascar! This month, 14 tourism operators in Sainte-Marie received their EcoLabel certification, recognizing their commitment to more responsible and sustainable practices. This achievement, led by the Sainte-Marie Tourism Office and Berthy Ramdoo, in collaboration with CORDIO East Africa, followed months of rigorous training and audit. This initial cohort—comprising hotels, restaurants, and tourism service providers—demonstrated strong engagement, with 10 establishments achieving the Basic ECO Friendly level and 4 reaching the Intermediate ECO Committed level. The higher level, Advanced ECO Excellence, remains a future objective for operators already involved in the process. 🏨🌱 The certification ceremony brought together over 60 participants, including local authorities and institutional stakeholders, highlighting clear local ownership of the initiative. 🤝 The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism emphasized the importance of this initiative and noted its strong potential to evolve into a national reference framework for sustainable tourism. Blue Tourism Initiative in Madagascar aims to balance economic appeal, environmental preservation, and community-led tourism. There are plans to extend the EcoLabel across all tourism stakeholders in Sainte-Marie. IDDRI eco-union #SustainableTourism #BlueEconomy

🌊 Strengthening Sustainable Fisheries Management in Kilifi Through Data, Mapping & Governance 🐟📊 Under the Empowering Coastal Communities for Sustainable Fisheries Management project (supported by Blue Ventures), CORDIO’s research team implemented a series of complementary activities across Kilifi Central, Bofa, Mnarani, and Takaungu BMUs within the TAMKIBO Joint Co-Management Area (JCMA). These included participatory fisheries resource mapping, community training in landing profiling, participatory socio-economic household survey , and governance assessment - each designed to strengthen community-led fisheries management. Kenya’s coastal ecosystems are vital for livelihoods and biodiversity, yet increasing pressure from overfishing, habitat degradation, and climate change continues to challenge their sustainability. These activities aimed to generate the data, insights, and local ownership needed to support more effective and inclusive management. 🧭 Key Focus Areas: ✅ Training of community fish data collectors in landing profiling to gather baseline data on the status of the local fisheries, to support co-management efforts ✅  Participatory mapping of fishing grounds using SeaSketch, capturing local knowledge on fishing areas, gear use, and habitats ✅ Household socio-economic assessments to understand community livelihoods, fishing activity, food security, financial resilience, and resource use dynamics ✅ Governance assessment through inclusive focus group discussions, evaluating participation, transparency, accountability, and benefit-sharing ✅ Capacity building of enumerators and BMU members to strengthen engagement in data collection and decision-making 📊 What This Enables: Together, these efforts build a comprehensive evidence base—linking spatial, fisheries, socio-economic and governance insights. This supports improved marine spatial planning, reduces resource conflicts, strengthens co-management, and ensures fisheries management is grounded in community realities. 🔑 Next Steps: Findings will inform BMU-specific action plans, guide spatial planning and governance improvements, and support adaptive, data-driven fisheries management across the TAMKIBO JCMA. With appreciation to BMUs, communities, enumerators, and partners whose knowledge and participation made this possible. Together, we are advancing community-led, sustainable fisheries management. 🌍💙 CORDIO Team: Evelyne Ndiritu, Nimrod Ishmael, Geoffrey Otieno, Paul Baraka, David Mwandikwa #SustainableFisheries #BlueEconomy #MarineConservation #CoManagement #CommunityLedConservation