Vanga community mural: making blue carbon benefits visible
- Place
- VangaKwale County, Kenya
- Focus
- Art and participationCommunicating blue carbon benefits
- Status
- Mural completedContinuing dialogue and updates
Making benefit sharing visible
Outside the Vanga Blue Forest office, a completed mural connects mangrove conservation with carbon income and community priorities. GRID-Arendal describes it as a public explanation of financial flows, with figures intended for annual updates. [1]
Climate Lens News reports that the idea drew on an existing office poster and experience with participatory murals in Namibia. The wall brings the discussion into a shared public space. [3]
A design that residents could change
Residents helped correct the artwork’s clothing, boats and fishing practices. A fisher’s intervention and children joining the painting illustrate how the process stayed open to local contributions. The Climate Lens News account also describes digital tools supporting the work. [3]
The collaboration involved Vanga Blue Forest, Mikoko Pamoja, KMFRI, ACES, GRID-Arendal, artist Hafidh Omari and Vanga residents. Scientific, financial and local knowledge informed revisions. [1]
What is demonstrated?
The finished artwork and the documented participation are concrete outputs. Whether ongoing updates improve accountability and trust remains a question for follow-up. [1]
Ideas for practitioners
Use this case to plan a discussion with community members, project staff and communicators:
- Which decisions and financial information do residents want explained?
- Who can challenge the design before and during production?
- Who will check, date and update the figures, and respond to questions?
- How will people access supporting accounts and raise concerns?
These are suggested learning questions, rather than measured outcomes of the mural.
From community murals to ocean investment
The poster Derisking Ocean Investment, by Rob Barnes and Hasan Abbas, connects the Vanga work with Namibia’s Waves of Change. It presents participatory communication as a way to support trust, shared ownership and accountability around ocean investment. This is the poster’s proposed approach, rather than a quantified assessment of reduced investment risk. [6]
Presented at the OOC11 Scientific and Research Symposium and CommOCEAN 2026. See the OOC11 virtual poster gallery; the project team supplied the CommOCEAN presentation history.
Watch and read
The six resources below link to their original publishers. Videos remain on YouTube.
The October 2026 WIOMSA Newsbrief includes the Vanga mural story on pages 19–20. [2]
Sources and credits
- A Wall That Tells a Bigger Story. Rob Barnes, GRID-Arendal, 18 August 2026.
- WIOMSA Newsbrief, October 2026, Volume 38 No. 3. A Wall That Tells a Bigger Story, pp. 19–20, by Rob Barnes, Jacqueline Uku, Amina Juma Hamza and Kipkorir Sigi Lang’at.
- The Colours of Climate Action. Okeyo Victor, Climate Lens News, 27 July 2026.
- Painting Transparency: A Blue Carbon Mural Story from Vanga, Kenya. Climate Lens News.
- Inside the World’s First Fully Transparent Carbon Credit Project. Climate Lens News.
- Derisking Ocean Investment (PDF). Rob Barnes and Hasan Abbas, GRID-Arendal. OOC11 poster gallery. Presentation at CommOCEAN 2026 confirmed by the project team.
Checked 28 October 2026. The articles support the account above; the films provide further viewing. Exact mural coordinates and a surveyed regional boundary are not supplied by these sources.
Photograph © Rob Barnes, GRID-Arendal. Original resource titles and authors are credited to their publishers.
Community Based Storytelling
Effective Communication methods
Safeguards, and verification
Rob Barnes
Amina Hamza
Kipkorir Sigi Lang’at
A Wall That Tells a Bigger Story
WIOMSA Newsbrief — October 2026
Painting Transparency: A Blue Carbon Mural Story from Vanga, Kenya
Inside the World’s First Fully Transparent Carbon Credit Project
Derisking Ocean Investment