Slide 1

Protecting Kenya’s Coast Through Community Power

Since 2009, Community Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC) has united coastal communities to safeguard marine ecosystems, restore habitats, and protect endangered sea turtles. We believe lasting change starts locally—empowering people to become stewards of the natural resources that sustain their future.

Slide 2

Protecting Kenya’s Coast Through Community Power

Since 2009, Community Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC) has united coastal communities to safeguard marine ecosystems, restore habitats, and protect endangered sea turtles. We believe lasting change starts locally—empowering people to become stewards of the natural resources that sustain their future.

Slide 3

Protecting Kenya’s Coast Through Community Power

Since 2009, Community Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC) has united coastal communities to safeguard marine ecosystems, restore habitats, and protect endangered sea turtles. We believe lasting change starts locally—empowering people to become stewards of the natural resources that sustain their future.

Slide 4

Protecting Kenya’s Coast Through Community Power

Since 2009, Community Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC) has united coastal communities to safeguard marine ecosystems, restore habitats, and protect endangered sea turtles. We believe lasting change starts locally—empowering people to become stewards of the natural resources that sustain their future.

Slide 5

Protecting Kenya’s Coast Through Community Power

Since 2009, Community Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC) has united coastal communities to safeguard marine ecosystems, restore habitats, and protect endangered sea turtles. We believe lasting change starts locally—empowering people to become stewards of the natural resources that sustain their future.

Slide 6

Protecting Kenya’s Coast Through Community Power

Since 2009, Community Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC) has united coastal communities to safeguard marine ecosystems, restore habitats, and protect endangered sea turtles. We believe lasting change starts locally—empowering people to become stewards of the natural resources that sustain their future.

1,592821

Total Trees Planted

1,664,621

Total Species Restored

1000+

Our Planting Sites

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Our History

Community Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC) was established in 2009 in response to the increasing threats facing Kenya’s coastal and marine ecosystems. These included habitat destruction, degradation of vital ecosystems like mangroves and beaches, and a sharp rise in sea turtle mortalities due to illegal poaching of turtle eggs and meat, along with destructive human activities. COBEC was founded on the conviction that lasting conservation can only be achieved when local communities are empowered and actively involved in the stewardship of their natural resources. Over the years, COBEC has grown into a trusted community organization that promotes grassroots environmental action, emphasizing sustainability, inclusivity, and local leadership.

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What We Do

Conservation Education & Awareness

Our Conservation Education and Awareness Programme is designed to provide individuals and institutions with the knowledge, values, and skills necessary to make informed decisions and take responsible actions for environmental sustainability

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Habitat Restoration

Our Habitat Restoration Programme focuses on mangrove ecosystems, beaches, estuaries, and other important ecological areas that have been impacted by human activities and climate change.

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Sea Turtle Conservation

COBEC has prioritized sea turtle conservation through a community-driven and multi-pronged strategy aimed at protecting turtles throughout their life cycle

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Livelihoods & Community Development

At COBEC, we understand that conservation cannot succeed without addressing the socio-economic challenges facing local communities.To break this cycle, we invest in sustainable livelihoods and community development as a core pillar of our work.

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Research & Monitoring

Scientific knowledge is critical to effective conservation. COBEC’s Research and Monitoring Programme provides the evidence base needed to design, evaluate, and improve our environmental interventions

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Fisheries Management Programme

The COBEC Fisheries Management Programme is a flagship initiative that promotes sustainable, community-led fisheries governance across Kenya’s northern coastline.

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Our Approach

COBEC adopts a bottom-up, community-led approach grounded in participation, voluntarism, and local empowerment. We believe that individuals and organizations can achieve more collectively, and that solutions developed with those most affected by environmental degradation are more likely to succeed and endure.

Community Decision-Making

We place the people who bear the costs of conservation at the center of decision-making, ensuring they lead the process from start to finish.

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Collaborative Solutions

We engage communities in identifying problems, proposing solutions, implementing actions, and monitoring outcomes together.

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Local Empowerment

While we collaborate with external experts, management authority remains with the community to ensure ownership and sustainability.

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Conservation by, for, and with Communities

We promote conservation that goes hand in hand with local development and cultural integrity.

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Our Partners

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