GVI Kenya

Category: Charcoal Burning, Colobus, Community Conservation, Shimoni Forest | Date: Nov 25 2007 | By: admin

Kenya may be most famous for its incredible big game and open savanna, but its coastal forests, although small, are no less significant for wildlife conservation. The Eastern Africa Coastal Forests Ecoregion is in fact the smallest of 25 Global Biodiversity Hotspots but contains the highest density of endemic plant and vertebrate animal species.

Above: one of the Colobus monkeys spotted during Friday’s survey

After two years, it is still a great privilege for me to know that a short walk from my office could bring the opportunity to watch the beautiful Angolan Black and White Colobus monkeys in the canopy above me, or a glimpse of the wonderful Zanj Elephant Shrew darting through the leaf litter. Sadly it is also never far from my mind that any loss of coastal forest brings these creatures a step closer to extinction.

Above: Chainsaws are often heard in Shimoni Forest, this tree was recently cut on Transect 6

That’s why the sudden appearance of charcoal burning pits in Shimoni forest over the last few months has caused alarm amongst our research team and many of our friends in the community. Last Friday, GVI’s research team returned to survey Transect 6, our furthest away, only to return with the sad news that in the intervening few months, 5 charcoal burning pits have sprung up along a 500m stretch.

The illegal felling of these trees to slowly burn them in large earth ovens to produce charcoal not only scars the ground but leaves gaping holes in the canopy where troops of Colobus should be travelling, feeding or simply resting. 

Above: Charcoal being packed up along Transect 6 

Having recently estimated from our research that 5% of the forest we survey has been lost in just one year to clear felling of land, either for agriculture or development, this has added to a sense of urgency in bringing the local communities and private landowners together in finding solutions to the challenge of safeguarding the forest that remains.