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| Arabuko-Sokoke
Forest Guides Association
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group was established in 1993 and presently with more than 20 members.
Arabuko-Sokoke is the biggest single fragment of coastal forest
from Kenya to South Africa and is ranked as the second most important
forest for bird conservation in mainland Africa. It hosts seven
globally threatened species: six bird species: Sokoke Scops Owl,
Sokoke Pipit, Spotted Ground Thrush, East Coast Akalat, Amani Sunbird
and Clarke’s Weaver and one mammal species: the Golden-rumped
Sengi (also called Elephant-shrew). |
Activities
and impacts
• Trained guides offer professional tour guiding into the
forest. In 2006, ASFGA guided 3000 visitors to the Forest and earned
Ksh 250,000
• Species & habitat monitoring and participate in waterfowl
counts focusing on coastal areas
• promote responsible tourism in the forest
• conduct guided bird watching on the first Saturday of every
month
• more than Schools participating in school outreach and education
programme
Over
the years, Nature Kenya has engaged communities living adjacent
to the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest (ASF) in various initiatives to conserve
the forest and improve livelihoods. The community participated in
the production of a 25-year strategy for conserving the ASF and
has been used by the Kenya government as a model for developing
national guidelines for Participatory Forest Management. Income
generating activities include beekeeping, sericulture, farm forestry,
mushroom farming, Aloe Vera farming and eco-tourism with the following
benefits directly going to communities:
• $ 750,000 from butterfly farming since 1994
• $ 39,885 from beekeeping since 2000
• $ 1,500 from May 2006 (annual projections $ 9,000)
• $ individual farmer income from sale of trees grown on farm
Partners:
Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forestry Research
Institute
Donors: USAID, Kindernothilfe,
NABU (BirdLife in Germany), DOF (BirdLife in Denmark), Darwin Initiative
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