Page 6 - Kenya Report

The Republic of Kenya

Key Country indicators
Location

The Republic of Kenya borders Somalia and Population 46,100,000
Ethiopia to the North, Tanzania to the South,
Country Profile
Uganda to the West and Indian ocean to the GDP US $ (billion) 63.4
East. The country covers an estimated total land GNI
The Republic of Kenya
mass of 569,000 km . Its marine water (including Total land area 569,000 km 2
2
the EEZ) and the continental coastline extends Length of coastline 640 km
to about 142,000 km and 640 km respectively
2
(KMFRI, 2017). The coastline is very irregular, Exclusive Economic Zone 142,000 km 2
indented and fronted by islands of Lamu, Kiwayuu, Continental shelf km 2
Pate and Manda in the northern part and Funzi Mangrove 610 km2
and Mombasa islands in the southern part.
Coral reef 630 km2
Marine resources Marine protected area 10% of territorial water

About 10 per cent of the territorial water is
classified as marine protected area. The fringing
coral reefs, distributed to depths of between
16 and 40 kilometres, cover an area of about
630 km and extend to between 8 and 10 km
2
offshores. The mangrove forest, most of which are
located in estuaries and delta, cover an area of
about 610 km (World Bank, 2017).
2
Ocean biodiversity plays a significant role in the
economy. Kenya’s GDP is estimated at US $ 63.4
billion with fish and aquaculture contributing
about 0.8 per cent. The sectors also provide direct
employment to over 500,000 people and support
over 2 million people indirectly (KMFRI, 2017).

Mangrove ecosystem

Kenya’s mangrove ecosystem does not occur
along a continuous belt but in patches along
the coastline. Lamu county hosts 61 per cent of
mangroves followed by Kilifi and Kwale at 14 per Source: (World Bank, 2017)
cent each (NEMA, 2017). Among the different
landscapes on which the mangrove forests occur include the reef platforms around Mombasa and
Lamu, in sheltered bays of Mida, Mto Fundisa, Shimoni, Ngomeni, Funzi and Vanga, along the creeks,
estuaries and rivers such as Vanga, Ramisi and Port Reitz and Tudor creek, and on river mouths and
delta of Tana and Sabaki river (Lugendo, 2016).

6