Kenyan Fishermen to Carry Smart IDs to Protect Fish and Trees

Fishermen in Lamu County, Kenya will be the first to hold “smart” identity cards to help authorities find and stop poachers from illegal fishing and logging contributing to climate issues.

The Mvuvi – Swahili for “fisher” – card is meant to increase security and help protect the country’s mangrove forests, which play a significant role in reducing global warming threats.

“There are people who pretend to be fishermen going out to sea but they are doing illegal logging of the mangroves,” says Samson Macharia, commissioner of Lamu County, to the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Over-harvesting of mangroves will affect (impacts from) climate change and ecosystems all along the shores of the coast and the islands.”