Land use and land cover changes in the Mijikenda Kaya sacred forests of Coastal Kenya: impacts on culture and conservation of UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Land use and land cover changes in the Mijikenda Kaya sacred forests of Coastal Kenya: impacts on culture and conservation of UNESCO World Heritage Sites | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Land use and land cover changes in the Mijikenda Kaya sacred forests of Coastal Kenya: impacts on culture and conservation of UNESCO World Heritage Sites Maria Fungomeli, Girma Mensuro, Eric Kioko This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6119007/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Land use and land cover (LULC) change detection is essential for understanding the dynamics of landscape patterns and the broader environmental and cultural implications. Over the past 30 years, the sacred Mijikenda Kaya forests have experienced significant LULC changes. Despite the importance of these changes, detailed analyses, their impacts, and the associated drivers have received limited scientific attention. In this study, we examine the trends in LULC changes from 1992 to 2022 and explore their effects on both the culture and conservation of two sacred Mijikenda Kaya forests: Kaya Kauma and Kaya Rabai, both of which are part of the nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites of outstanding international importance. To assess these changes, we utilized a combination of remote sensing data, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, field observations, and ground truthing. Our findings reveal that the Kaya ecosystem has undergone significant LULC and cultural changes over the last three decades. The primary changes include a dramatic loss of forest cover and water bodies, while areas of agriculture, mining, shrubland, and settlements have expanded. Specifically, the historical boundary areas of Kaya Kauma and Kaya Rabai experienced a forest cover loss of 46.0 ha (10.9%) and 895.7 ha (134.8%), respectively, while the current boundary areas saw forest cover reductions of 7.1 ha (9.4%) and 174.7 ha (26.3%) from 1992 to 2022. Key drivers of these changes include population growth, mining activities, agricultural expansion, settlement development, land encroachment, grazing, illegal logging, and the illicit cutting of trees for firewood and charcoal production. In addition to ecological changes, our study highlights a significant loss of cultural practices and traditional knowledge, primarily due to the erosion of cultural-spiritual beliefs and norms. Sacred ritual areas, once integral to the community's cultural practices, have been converted into settlements or privatized, severely reducing the opportunity for elders to maintain traditional customs. These cultural losses, coupled with the environmental degradation, underscore the urgent need to address both the decline in forest cover and the erosion of traditional knowledge for the sustainable management of the Kaya sacred forest landscapes. This study emphasizes the interconnectedness of ecological and cultural preservation and calls for a comprehensive approach to mitigate further land degradation and cultural loss, ensuring the long-term sustainability of these sacred sites. Conservation Biology Terrestrial Ecology Forestry Behavioral Ecology Biodiversity hotspot culture loss Kenya sacred Kaya forests land use change land cover change remote sensing traditional knowledge Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. I acknowledge that during the research, all participants in interviews and and all group discussions gave consent on their participation and use of the information in reports and publications. Before each interview, informed consent was received where participants were informed of the objective of the research, and that their participation was entirely voluntary and had the right to withdraw during interview. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6119007","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":421672252,"identity":"baf3f4ee-70ca-44ed-bdb0-e9c56d55879a","order_by":0,"name":"Maria 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Over the past 30 years, the sacred Mijikenda Kaya forests have experienced significant LULC changes. Despite the importance of these changes, detailed analyses, their impacts, and the associated drivers have received limited scientific attention. In this study, we examine the trends in LULC changes from 1992 to 2022 and explore their effects on both the culture and conservation of two sacred Mijikenda Kaya forests: Kaya Kauma and Kaya Rabai, both of which are part of the nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites of outstanding international importance. To assess these changes, we utilized a combination of remote sensing data, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, field observations, and ground truthing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur findings reveal that the Kaya ecosystem has undergone significant LULC and cultural changes over the last three decades. The primary changes include a dramatic loss of forest cover and water bodies, while areas of agriculture, mining, shrubland, and settlements have expanded. Specifically, the historical boundary areas of Kaya Kauma and Kaya Rabai experienced a forest cover loss of 46.0 ha (10.9%) and 895.7 ha (134.8%), respectively, while the current boundary areas saw forest cover reductions of 7.1 ha (9.4%) and 174.7 ha (26.3%) from 1992 to 2022. Key drivers of these changes include population growth, mining activities, agricultural expansion, settlement development, land encroachment, grazing, illegal logging, and the illicit cutting of trees for firewood and charcoal production.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition to ecological changes, our study highlights a significant loss of cultural practices and traditional knowledge, primarily due to the erosion of cultural-spiritual beliefs and norms. 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