The Mambrui Sand Dunes on Kenya’s North Coast are renowned for their spectacular evening sunsets and desert-like landscapes that evoke the feeling of Dubai. Yet, only a few metres from this breathtaking scenery, plastic pollution is silently degrading the landscape, contaminating the ocean and the beaches and threatening marine biodiversity including the sea turtle nesting sites .
Can the beauty of this unique coastal landscape be sustained, or will we allow the plastic crisis to define its future?
Amid this growing environmental challenge, a local movement is demonstrating that community-led conservation can deliver lasting change. I Love Mambrui is an emerging community-based organisation that is mobilising residents to collect, recover, and repurpose plastic waste across the area, preventing it from reaching the ocean while restoring the ecological integrity of this iconic coastline.
We are proud to partner with this remarkable organisation of more than 200 members, predominantly women and artisanal fishers, who are at the forefront of safeguarding Mambrui’s beaches. Through structured waste collection, environmental stewardship, and circular economy initiatives, this partnership is transforming plastic from an environmental threat into an economic resource while strengthening community ownership of coastal conservation.
Protecting Mambrui is not only about preserving a spectacular destination. It is about securing critical marine habitats, protecting sea turtle nesting grounds, reducing plastic leakage into the Indian Ocean, and demonstrating that empowered local communities are essential to achieving resilient and sustainable coastal ecosystems for future generations.
