Understanding of Sustainable Development Goals among communities living adjacent to mangroves in Kenya

Mangroves are among the most productive ecosystems, known for their diverse provisioning, regulating, supporting and aesthetic services. The ecosystem directly supports livelihoods and ensures food security and nutrition of people through its ecosystem services (ES) such as wood, fish and medicines while protecting them by stabilizing shorelines, reducing flooding, and mitigating climate change and natural disasters such as tsunamis. In so doing, the ecosystem promotes several sustainable development goals (SDGs) and co-benefits several others. This relationship however remains under explored with limited studies on the co-benefit scenarios and the cognitive views of mangrove resource users. This paper highlights gaps in knowledge of the role of mangroves in development and the implications on ecosystem governance. The study analysed the ‘ideal’ scenario presented in secondary data in comparison to community perspectives on mangrove-related development. Bearing in mind the complexity of the concept of sustainability, development was categorised at local, national and international levels, and community members were asked to mention any known links to mangrove ES at any of the three levels. Results indicate that 45.4 % (n=166) of the community understood the roles of mangroves in development. The majority (79.5 %) were able to link the ecosystem to local (village level) development, 43.1 % to both local and national development while only 13.5 % could link the ecosystem to local, national, and international development. Forty-three per cent (n=157) of the community did not know of the relationship between mangroves and development while 11.6 % (n=43) felt that mangroves do not contribute to development. The study further disaggregated this knowledge socio-demographically, highlighting opportunities for enhancing governance, conservation and the use of mangrove ecosystems in Kenya.


Introduction
In 2015, the United Nations formalised 169 targets with 230 indicators to gauge development under 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations, 2015;Singh et al., 2017). The SDGs incorporated themes from poverty and hunger alleviation (SDG 1 and SDG 2), to environmental sustainability (SDG 7, SDG 13, SDG14 and SDG15), good health and sanitation (SDG 3 and SDG 6), promotion of equality, justice and education (SDG 10, SDG 5,SDG 16 and SDG 4) and sustainable infrastructure and economic growth (SDG 8,SDG 9,SDG 11,SDG 12) all supported under SDG 17 which seeks partnerships for the goals. The SDGs represent an ambitious effort to improve the lives of the world's poor and marginalized communities through a multi-sector approach (Wood et al., 2018). Embedded in the goals is an aim to rebuild and strengthen the integrity and function of ecosystems to secure the benefits they provide to both current and future generations (United Nations, 2015;Obura, 2020).
Mangroves are critical in this discourse for their social, ecological, and economic functions (FAO, 2007). The ecosystem provides habitat and nursery grounds for fish and other biodiversity (Field et al., 1998;Kathiresan and Qasim, 2005), wood products and medicinal resources for coastal communities (Huxham et al., 2017). Mangroves also capture and store carbon in their above and below ground components while buffering hinterlands against strong waves and storms (Alongi, 2012;Kuffman et al., 2014).
Considering their broader contribution to the SDGs, exploitation of mangrove goods and services like timber, honey and aesthetics contributes to SDG 1 and SDG 8, eradicating poverty and creation of employment (Huxham et al., 2017). Habitat and biodiversity supporting services provide food for SDG 2 (eradicating hunger) while supporting life for SDG 14 (life for marine biome), and SDG15 (life on land), (Wood et al., 2018). Medicinal mangrove species and other therapeutic qualities of mangroves contribute to SDG 3 (improving health) (UN-DESA, 2017;Wood et al., 2018). Carbon capture and storage link them to SDG 13 (climate action) (Chow, 2018), while their water regulating, and hazard barrier attributes makes them relevant for SDG 6 (clean water) and SDG 11 (sustainable coastal cities) respectively (UN-DESA, 2017).
Despite this critical value, mangroves have experienced a net loss in cover in recent decades, and what remains is highly threatened (Walters, 2003;Thomas et al., 2017). About one fifth of the global mangroves have been lost since 1980, due to anthropogenic stressors, including over-extraction and deforestation from infilling, drainage and conversion of forest areas to aquaculture and agriculture (Walters, 2003;Thomas et al., 2017). This decline has negatively impacted coastal communities and threatens to increase the vulnerability of small-scale fisheries which depend heavily on coastal habitats. As a result, at least 45 countries have mentioned mangroves in their national plans to tackle climate change (Deng et al., 2022), 28 in their restoration pledges, and approximately 62 countries in their national biodiversity plans (IISD, 2019).
Kenya has lost approximately 20 % of its mangrove cover since 1980 (Abuodha and Kairo, 2001; Government of Kenya, 2017) and now prioritises mangrove habitats in its commitments to climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation (Government of Kenya, 2018). The country is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 % by 2030, and to increase forest cover to at least 10 % of the land area (Government of Kenya, 2018). The latter has seen the introduction of protection efforts including a ban on mangrove logging (Government of Kenya, 2017;Government of Kenya, 2018). Coupled with efforts to enhance community based natural resource management (CBNRM), the country appears to be making steps towards Agenda 2030, but how do such efforts resonate with the primary resource users?
Studies show a close relationship between environmental sustainability and the quality of governance (Friess et al., 2016) which, according to Lockwood et al. (2010) are reflected in eight principles -legitimacy, transparency, accountability, inclusiveness, fairness, integration, capability, and adaptability. Although these principles provide a suitable framework for analyzing governance effectiveness, the complexity of assessing the eight principles within a smaller scale and fitting them with the SDG framework remains a challenge. As a result, different schools of thought have developed simplified assessment frameworks, such as procedural justice, that emphasize the understanding of stakeholder engagement throughout the decision-making process (O'Beirne et al., 2020). Procedural justice advocates for openness and inclusivity in decision making from inception to implementation as reflected in socio-demographic characteristics.
Here we apply the tenets of procedural justice in understanding effectiveness in mangrove governance as reflected in community knowledge. We present the community perspective on the role o of mangrove in development in comparison to an 'ideal' scenario presented in the literature as a step towards assessing the effectiveness of mangrove governance frameworks in Kenya. Community perspectives can provide useful insights into governance frameworks by providing a comparison between community identified needs and current regulations (Shirkhorshidi, 2013;Bennett and Dearden, 2014) Material and methods

Study area
The study was conducted in Vanga, a fishing location on the south coast of Kenya. Vanga is located at 4°39´00"S and 39°13´00"E along the trans-boundary area between Kenya and Tanzania. The site was chosen because of its geographical proximity to mangrove forests and the dependence of the adjacent communities on fisheries as their main source of livelihood (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 2013). Four villages within Vanga Location (Vanga, Jimbo, Kiwegu, and Majoreni) were sampled in the study (Fig. 1). Fishing, subsistence farming, small-scale businesses, and mangrove harvesting are the main economic activities in the area (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 2013).

Assessment of the relationship between mangroves and SDGs
The relationship evaluation framework of Singh et al. (2017) was operationalized (Fig. 5) in mapping the relationship between mangrove ecosystem services (ES) and the SDGs. Mapping of the relationships was done through a series of secondary data reviews.
Secondary data sources included reports, journal essays, internet sources, and book chapters related to ES and the SDGs. The focus of these reviews was to compile a matrix representing the ES and SDG targets. During the review, SDG targets were translated verbatim as presented in the texts of the SDG blueprint while the relationship assessment was in-depth, leading to an array of co-benefits. For instance, although specific targets like halting biodiversity loss refer directly to biodiversity support, the service was not only limited to biodiversity-related targets but assessed from the broader perspectives of poverty and hunger alleviation, good health and sanitation, environmental sustainability and promotion of equality, justice, education and infrastructure development. This information was then compiled into a comprehensive matrix of the "ideal" relationship between mangroves and SDGs for expert review (Appendix 1). The "ideal" relationship was contextually defined as the desirable link between mangroves and SDGs as envisioned in the SDG blueprint. In the ideal situation, social dynamics play harmoniously with the ecological needs to present sustainable development outcomes. The study adopted a cross-sectional design employing simple random sampling. Daniel's (1999) sampling formula, reviewed in Daniel and Cross (2018), was used to determine the sample size of the study: = Where, X = Zα/2 *p*(1-p) / MOE2 (Zα/2 is the critical value of the normal distribution at α/2, e.g., when the confidence level for this study is 95 %, α is 0.05 and the critical value is 1.96), MOE is the margin of error, p is the sample proportion (50 % for this study), and N is the population size) (Daniel and Cross, 2018). This study used a questionnaire survey, focused group discussions (FGD), and secondary data review.

Assessment of community perceptions of the relationship between mangroves and SDGs
A total of 366 respondents were sampled for the survey. FGDs involved men and women categorized by age groups (youths and elderly). Each FGD consisted of 8-12 individuals of the same gender and age group.

Hypothesis and statistical tests
The null hypothesis for the study was that socio-demographic factors influence knowledge of the synergies and trade-offs. Spearman's correlation was used to test the null hypothesis with knowledge of the relationship between mangroves and the SDGs as the dependent variable and sociodemographic factors as the independent variables. The r-value (relationship) was determined using the formula: an's rank correlation coefficient nce between the two ranks of each observation r of observations p=Spearman's rank correlation coefficient d2=difference between the two ranks of each observation n=number of observations Spearman's rho is a statistical framework for non-parametric test of the association between two variables, where the value r = 1 means a perfect positive correlation and the value r = -1 means a perfect negative correlation (Prion and Haerling, 2014). This has been used in a wide range of socioeconomic studies to determine the relationship between trends and phenomena. We based our analysis on the practical guide in Akoglu (2018) in assessing the correlation coefficient between independent and dependent variables of this study.

Data processing
Qualitative data was transcribed and coded according to themes of the study using Atlas.ti7 then analyzed and presented in rich narratives. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics and presented in graphs and tables.  (Table 1). Forty eight point six percent (48.6%) of the study population had lived in the study area for more than 30 years, 25.1 % between 20 to 30 years, 20.8 % between 10 to 20 years while only 5.5 % had lived in the area for less than 10 years.

The 'ideal' link between mangrove and SDGs
The synergies Analysis of the synergies indicated that mangroves contribute directly to the achievement of at least 14 targets of sustainable development goals, co-benefiting at least 18 targets (Fig. 5). Regulating services directly contribute to the achievement of at least 7 SDG targets, co-benefiting 9 SDGs targets. Supporting ecosystem services directly contribute to 2 SDG targets, co-benefiting at least 9 SDG targets. Cultural ecosystem services directly contribute to at least 4 SDG targets, co-benefiting at least 7 SDG targets while provisioning services directly contribute to 3 SDG targets while co-benefiting at least 2 targets (See discussion section) (Fig. 5).      A common assertion among community members that 'if not for mangroves, we would not be living where we live due to flooding and shoreline erosion' indicated an understanding of the protective functions of mangroves. This was, however, not reflected in the link to development with shoreline protection and ocean hazard barrier ranking among the least (less than 2 % of the respondents) contributors to development (Fig. 4).

The trade-offs
On the general views on the roles of mangroves in development, the majority of the community supported similar views that: 'Our parents paid our school fees through mangrove-related income. The forest provided timber for construction of boats for fishing, furniture, house construction, and fuel energy, and today we take our children to school thanks to the same ecosystem. To us, therefore, mangroves mean timber, fish, and a beautiful environment'.
This was coherent with the results (Fig. 4), where the majority (35.9 %) of the community members in Vanga perceive mangroves as a source of income. This implied a significantly better knowledge of the synergies among community members with less education and better knowledge of the synergies among respondents who had stayed longer in the study area.
No perfect or significant coefficients were established between gender and age with knowledge of the synergies at any development level (Table 2).

Discussion
The mangrove ecosystem was selected for its vital protective functions, social-economic elevation potentials, and its role in regulating ecological processes, which make them critical to achievement of the SDGs (Huxham et al., 2017;UN-DESA, 2017;Singh et al., 2017).
Studies suggest that the critical nature of protecting and restoring mangroves is reflected in SDG 14 (life below water), but the ecosystem has the potential of supporting the achievement of several other SDGs (UN-DESA, 2017). The diverse nature of these benefits results in a number of co-benefits and tradeoffs contingent to community perceptions, which influence utilisation and eventuality of the development agenda (Nazarea et al., 1998;Cinner and Pollnac, 2004).

Community knowledge of the synergies and tradeoffs between mangroves and SDGs
Local support strongly underpins conservation success, and is influenced by the perceptions of the impacts of governance frameworks on the community (Bennett and Dearden, 2014). Ecosystem services frameworks present viable mechanisms for assessing the effectiveness of governance, by providing mechanisms for understanding different views of local communities and their support for conservation interventions (Afonso et al., 2022). This study adopted the ecosystem services framework for assessing community knowledge on the roles of mangroves in

Relating community knowledge to the 'ideal' link between mangroves and the SDGs
A review of secondary data on the 'ideal' mangrove-SDG relationship indicated a gap in community knowledge. Contrary to the community perspective that was limited to income and livelihood related goals SDG 1, SDG 2, SDG 3 and SDG 8, expert analysis established greater links between mangroves and sustainable development. The influence of regulating services was found to contribute to at least 17 SDG targets, either directly or as reinforcement to co-benefiting targets. In its protective functions, the ecosystem buffers shoreline erosion, strong wave actions, storm, and other climate change related hazards (Barbier, 2016). This strengthens resilience against climate-related and other extreme events (SDG 1.2, 1.5, and 13.1), reducing health risks (target 3.9) (Singh et al., 2017).
As Cultural ES identified in this study include aesthetic and cultural values of the mangrove ecosystem. Aesthetic value creates a sense of identity with environmental beauty which provides a basis for conservation through social reciprocity (Carlson, 2005), promoting eco-tourism and employment opportunities towards SDG 8.9, 8.4, and 8.5 (Friess, 2017 (Cooper et al., 2016).