Progress in Integrated Coastal or Sustainable Development of Kenya's Coast Management f The Case of Nyali-Bamburi-Shanzu Area

Abstract

This report summarises the findings of an enhanced profiling of topical issues in the expanded pilot site of Nyali-Bamburi-Shanzu area in Mombasa, Kenya. The base issues of the area had been delineated in 1995 and strategies to address them on priority basis put in place in 1996. Some demonstration activities to exemplify the benefits of ICAM to the stakeholders were executed and public awareness on how general development at the coastal areas can be fashioned in an integrated manner has been greatly amplified. The current in depth findings were presented to stakeholders in a two-day interaction from which the way forward to the enhanced ICAM process was crystallised. The issues/topics necessitating enhanced profiling were, therefore, identified from the initial ICAM practice/experience. The profiling also demonstrated institutional capacity building in the ICAM process that has been attained so far. The land-use report has showed the demise of traditional farming, mangrove harvesting and the communal ownership to land. Since 1978 and on an increasing scale most of the and has been put into urban uses. Land for agriculture has diminished. Land ownership is not secured on a large portion of the area. This has resulted into unplanned developments, squatting and the creation of gapping holes and badlands through indiscriminate quarrying. Cashing on the booming tourism trade every available land has been put into use with access points to the beach blocked. Incompatible land uses have emerged, e.g. the huge human settlements surrounding the Bamburi Cement Factory and the existence of Shimo-La-Tewa Prison alongside tourists’ establishments and dwelling houses. Subdivision Schemes and Squatter Settlement Schemes on once agricultural land has increased the human population further constraining the infrastructure and other services. The report has recommended for the preparation of action plan areas, urban and regional plans, as well as structural plans and the declaration of special areas depending on their unique development potential and to provide for controls in land uses. The report has proposed short-term, medium-term and long-term measures to address land uses in the area. Urban sprawl has had negative impacts shown in air pollution, declining water quality, accelerated soil erosion, degraded coral reefs, mangrove and other marine life, and the loss in aesthetic value of the general environment. Air pollution caused by Bamburi Cement Factory, motor vehicles smoke and rotting garbage was identified. Groundwater is contaminated from defuse pollution from solid waste rot and improper liquid waste discharges and excessive pumping which prompts seawater intrusion. Poor farming practices, opening of vegetated areas for structure development and poor siting of properties have tended to increase instability of physical coastal formations and hence increased soil erosion. Soil depositions into the sea, sewage discharges, uncontrolled fishing and tourism have affected critical marine habitats and life. Poor land ownership patterns and informal settlements have also aggravated the environmental impacts by urban sprawl. Stakeholder participation approach to sanitation problems complete with legal, administrative and sustainable financing mechanisms are seen as recommended solutions to the detailed problems. The study site is one of the hot spot tourism destinations of the Coast controlling up to 8.6% of national tourism receipts. The tourism industry has, however, been characterised by lack of clear development policy, lack of integrated planning and strict zoning with private and informal activities mingling with the fully developed tourist structures at the beaches. The scenario has led to lowering of tourism aesthetic valu closing up. Possible ways of revitalising the industry were envisaged to be in the form of rehabilitation of infrastructure which got extremely disrupted in 1997 El Nino rains, strategic marketing, diversification of tourism products both on land and at sea, encouraging local community ownership participation and evolving new management principles that are based on the carrying capacity of the destination. Further research into the latter is recommended. On the socio-economic front, it was found that the majority of the people living in the area are immigrants from outside Kenya, from the Kenyan highlands and from outside the Mombasa district. The majority of the people are in low-income brackets with large mean family sizes and with high rates of unemployment. Their education and health standards were also found to be relatively low. It was proposed that the living standards of the inhabitants could be improved by focussing on sectoral reforms and reactivating the already existing policies that govern their settlement and utilisation of the resource base. In the enhanced ICAM activities, a provision was made for completion of demonstration projects especially the expanded version of the rehabilitation of tourism and sanitary structure at the Jomo Kenyatta Public Beach and the evolution of bankable projects for solid and liquid waste disposal and infrastructure development for a planned settlement scheme (Mwembe Legeza) in the study site. Critical in the rehabilitation of structures at the Kenyatta beach is also identifying sustainable ownership and management mechanisms that would guarantee quality public services at the beach. At Mwembe Legeza, a model settlement is planned that has all public utilities in the masterplan and in the solid and liquid waste disposal proposal it is envisaged a modern solid waste recycling process and a functional liquid waste treatment plant before final disposal into the sea. For sustainability and efficiency of operations, the ICAM process is seen as a critical approach in the wise use of the coastal resources and in the aforementioned issues. TheICAM process, therefore, needs to be appropriately institutionalised by first giving it a clear legal status in Kenya. The Coast Development Authority (CDA) should then play a pivotal role at provincial level in linking the process to the central government, bearing in mind that other institutions like the provincial administration, the various municipalities, research institutions and the private sector also hold some stake in the ICAM process development and institutionalisation. It has been recognised that the ICAM process offers the best tools for coastal resources management, and now there is advocacy that the ICAM process should be extended from the pilot area to the entire Coast within the frame of the national ICAM programme. (