THE LAMU COUNTY BIOCULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOL

The Lamu County Bio-Cultural Community Protocol (BCP) is a communal document created by the Bajun, Swahili, Sanye, Aweer, and Orma communities to protect their ancestral lands and nature-based livelihoods. It details the diverse economic niches of these groups—including fishing, pastoralism, and hunting-gathering—and the traditional conservation methods they employ. The document strongly opposes the LAPSSET project and the Amu Power coal plant, citing a lack of free, prior, and informed consent, threats to biodiversity, and the risk of cultural erasure. It concludes by demanding legal recognition of community land rights and the adoption of renewable energy alternatives.

• Lamu County is home to five primary indigenous communities—the Bajun, Swahili, Sanye, Aweer, and Orma—who maintain interdependent, nature-based livelihoods including fishing, farming, pastoralism, and hunting-gathering.
• The communities employ specific traditional conservation methods to ensure sustainability, such as selective cutting of mangroves using hand tools, shifting cultivation in farming, and seasonal movement of livestock to allow for grassland regeneration.
• The LAPSSET project (Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor) is criticized for a lack of transparency and public participation, with the community claiming the government failed to provide adequate information or obtain consent.
• The proposed Amu Power coal plant is opposed due to expected environmental damage, specifically the risk of thermal effluent killing marine life and the emission of particulate matter and greenhouse gases.
• Indigenous groups in Lamu face severe land insecurity and historical injustices, including forced removals during the Shifta War in the 1960s and the subsequent allocation of ancestral lands to political elites.
• The communities assert that their traditional decision-making structures, such as the Council of Elders, have been marginalized and usurped by government-appointed provincial administrators.
• The document demands the recognition of community land rights under the 2010 Constitution of Kenya and the implementation of free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) for all future development projects.

APA

Natural Justice (n.d.). THE LAMU COUNTY BIOCULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOL. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Lamu-County-BCP-2018.pdf

Chicago

Natural Justice. THE LAMU COUNTY BIOCULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOL. n.d. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Lamu-County-BCP-2018.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Natural Justice |title=THE LAMU COUNTY BIOCULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOL |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Lamu-County-BCP-2018.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{naturaljusticendlamu, author = {{Natural Justice}}, title = {{THE LAMU COUNTY BIOCULTURAL COMMUNITY PROTOCOL}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Lamu-County-BCP-2018.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }