Hosting Kenya’s First Community-Led Marine Protected Area
For 20 years Vipingo Ridge has formed a key part of a triangle of organisations working together to improved livelihoods, restore habitats and promote sustainable practices in marine conservation.
As a private partner to an NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation), Oceans Alive Foundation, and a CBO (Community Based Organisation) the Kuruwitu Conservation and Welfare Association (KCWA), Vipingo Ridge plays an integral role in what has become a flagship project in Kenya, and Kenya’s first community-led Marine Protected Area - based right at the Vipingo Ridge Beach Club on Kuruwitu beach.
Kuruwitu was in the spotlight this week, as the internationally acclaimed Our Ocean conference came to the African continent for the first time for it’s 11th edition.
The conference was held in next door county, Mombasa, with 4,500 delegates assembling at the Kenya Coast, under the theme of the event: Our Ocean, Our Heritage, Our Future. Scientists, activists, business executives, and youth representatives from more than 100 countries were able to join the event.
A key part of the programme was a focus on the part local people play in the blue economy, a topic that is at the heart of the Vipingo Ridge Space to Thrive framework, and how we support Protecting Blue Spaces.
As part of the conference, dignitaries from across the world visited the Vipingo Ridge Beach Club, where they were hosted by our partners Oceans Alive Foundation, to get hands on experience of the work, meet the community, and see the Marine Protected Area for themselves. A highlight of course seeing the King Coral, a coral head planted by His Highness King Charles III in November 2023.
Extract from Oceans Alive Press Release
UK Government Delegation Visits Kenya’s First Community-Led Marine Protected Area to spotlights the UK’s Ocean Community Empowerment and Nature (OCEAN) grants programme
Defra Minister Emma Hardy MP and UK Special Representative for Nature Ruth Davis OBE witness UK-funded alternative income generation in action at Kuruwitu supported by the OCEAN Community Grant Programme.
KURUWITU, KILIFI COUNTY Oceans Alive today welcomes a high-level UK environmental and diplomatic delegation to the Kuruwitu Conservation Area, Kenya’s pioneer Community Managed Marine Area, to inspect how community-led ocean governance and UK international climate finance are restoring coral reef biodiversity and creating climate-resilient coastal economies.
The delegation is led by Emma Hardy MP, UK Minister for Water and Flooding at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and Ruth Davis OBE, the UK Special Representative for Nature. They are joined by representatives from the British High Commission in Nairobi, Sophie Benbow, Chair of the UK government's OCEAN Expert Committee, and Billy Curryer, OCEAN Community Grant Programme Manager at NIRAS.
Taking place alongside the Our Ocean Conference being held in Mombasa, the visit spotlights Defra's strategic international mandate to fund Alternative Income Generation (AIG) models. By providing coastal communities with viable, land-and-sea-based economic alternatives to overfishing, these initiatives break cycles of overexploitation and economic vulnerability, ensuring long-term habitat protection coexists with stable, self-sustaining local economies.
The delegation will combine a marine review of the area's coral propagation infrastructure and visit the commemorative coral structure planted by King Charles III during his historic state visit to Kuruwitu in 2023, showcasing the enduring environmental partnership between the UK and Kenya.
Following operations on the water, the delegation will engage in direct dialogue with local fishers from the Kuruwitu Beach Management Unit (BMU) and women fish processors to evaluate the grassroots impact of UK funding. The visit specifically highlights the active UK Ocean Community Grant framework alongside the legacy of the Darwin Initiative and the Global Fund for Coral Reefs, demonstrating how interlocking UK investments build local management capacity and financial autonomy for women and youth.
Tilda Bowden, Director, Oceans Alive:
‘We are deeply grateful for the UK government's sustained partnership and this visit provides a vital showcase for Defra's focus on Alternative Income Generation. True marine conservation cannot succeed in a vacuum of economic vulnerability; it only endures when local communities have sustainable ways to earn a living. Through the active Ocean Community Grant, Kuruwitu is delivering a scalable blueprint proving that when you trust and legally empower fishers and women traders to own both their marine resources and their financial futures, both nature and livelihoods thrive.‘
About Oceans Alive
Oceans Alive Foundation is an action-based Kenyan marine conservation trust operating across the coastline of Kilifi County. Grounded in over two decades of field success, the foundation builds durable environmental, economic, and governance frameworks directly alongside coastal communities, transitioning local residents into active co-managers and legally recognised stewards of their nearshore marine heritage. Learn more at www.oceansalivekenya.org.
Hosting Visits: Blue Partnerships in Action
For Vipingo Ridge, such visits give an opportunity to support our blue conservation partners.
From providing the venue (the Headquarters and spaces used are rent free, with presentation spaces above and at the beach front, the kitchen garden and the community shop are all part of our support of the blue projects), to supporting with security, hygiene and hospitality services, we are able to help the work of our partners be the focus for visitors coming to experience the work of the community. It’s rare for such projects to have private partners on hand to create a safe space for the conservation work to be the star.
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