Mombasa: Community groups, judicial officers, and elected leaders converged at Shelly Beach in Likoni, Mombasa to mark World Environment Day with a coastal clean-up and tree planting exercise. Justice Anthony Ombwayo of the Environment and Land Court warned that receding ocean shorelines and expanding inland water bodies are visible indicators of climate change, attributing the crisis largely to unchecked deforestation.
According to Kenya News Agency, Justice Ombwayo emphasized deforestation as a primary driver of the problem, highlighting that many people cut down trees without replacing them. He noted that Kenya currently has only about three active climate change-related cases before its courts, a figure described as worryingly low. He mentioned that penalties for pollution include up to one year of imprisonment or a fine of Sh1 million, though these penalties are rarely applied.
Likoni Member of Parliament (MP), Mishi Mboko, stated that her office has allocated two percent of NG-CDF funds to environmental initiatives, including tree planting in schools and mangrove restoration zones. She announced a partnership with Equity Bank to plant fruit trees like mangoes, oranges, passion fruit, and pawpaw in constituency schools and called on the county government to support formal land-use planning frameworks.
Mboko also recalled how her home village of Midodoni lost its once-abundant mango trees to human activity. She emphasized the urgency of sustained community action and awareness to ensure environmental safety and combat climate change.
Mombasa County Executive Committee Member for Blue Economy, Ibrahim Khamisi, acknowledged resource constraints but insisted that environmental responsibility is a shared obligation. He highlighted the discharge of industrial chemicals into the sea, particularly in the Tudor area, as a serious recurring concern. He also noted that a major international ocean conference, the first of its kind in Africa, is scheduled in Mombasa on June 15.
Human rights defender and civil society network Chairperson, Zedekiah Adika, called for accountability, arguing that environmental gains would remain fragile without rule of law. He cited the Owino Uhuru case as an example of court orders never enforced and demanded that the national government raise natural resource revenue sharing with Coast counties from two percent to at least 20 percent.
Kishoka Youth Organization, represented by Kassim Ali Mwachombo, showcased a tangible example of community action by spearheading mangrove restoration at Dongokundu, an area heavily degraded during the construction of a Special Economic Zone. Mwachombo emphasized the importance of mangroves as vital for protecting shorelines and sustaining the livelihoods of fisherfolk. Working with various organizations through NGCDF funding, Kishoka has planted 30,000 trees and appealed for continued support from the MP.
