If you’ve ever considered a restoration project, there comes a point when it stops being a project or process and becomes a renewed place. Think about how you may have done it in a house renovation. Well, the same holds true for mangrove restoration. In Kenya, that renewed place occurred when two hippos surfaced close to the shoreline.
Those hippos hadn’t been in the area, and no one thought about planning for them. But still they were there. Improving biodiversity, including birds and endangered species, is nature’s way of renewing a place. When restoration occurs, humans provide other living beings with functioning habitats and coasts and forests.
Another gift is that these habitats are becoming homes again for birds and animals because of the gently worn sneakers collected in the U.S.
Biodiversity Is Measured Data
Let’s make a quick connection between sneaker reuse and environmental impact. Organizations that partner with Green Sneakers collect gently worn sneakers and get paid by Green Sneakers for their community cause or efforts. In turn, Green Sneakers partners with veritree, which plants trees worldwide to improve the planet’s biodiversity.
In Kenya, which is one of the veritree planting sites, they’ve installed bioacoustic monitoring sensors. Those sensors record ambient sound, and machine learning identifies the bird species relative to a baseline of what had existed before in the area. So, they can pick up the sound of birds in their natural habitats.
Birds and the Mangrove Ecosystem
Birds are the most reliable indicators of an ecosystem’s health. For instance, in a mangrove ecosystem, their presence and behavior are direct responses to the health of the habitat. If there’s recovery, they will become more present, but if it’s degraded, they will have to move out of the area.
To date, with veritree, the sensors have recorded 20 distinct bird species in Kawale and Kilifi. Here’s a sampling of what the sensors have picked up.
Common Buzzard Birds
The Common Buzzard is the bird type that’s been most frequently recorded, appearing 20% in the acoustic recordings. This bird is an apex predator, which signals a solid base of prey, including reptiles, insects, and small mammals. The existence of that prey signals vegetation.
Whimbrel Birds
Whimbrels appear in 16% of the acoustic recordings. These birds are shorebirds that migrate over long distances. They breed in the Arctic and travel to tropical coastlines. They require intact intertidal habitats to feed on crabs and worms. When they appear, it signals the improving health of the intertidal floor.
Eurasian Curlew
In 6% of the sound recordings, the Eurasian Curlew has appeared, and it has the greatest conservation impact, because it is threatened with extinction. Unfortunately, the Eurasian Curlew population has declined significantly due to habitat loss. It’s appeared in coastal Kenya, which is a big conservation win.
The Full Species List Recorded at the Sites
- Kwale region: Common Buzzard (20%), Whimbrel (16%), Black-crowned Night-Heron (12%), Common Waxbill (10%), Eurasian Curlew (6%), Booted Eagle (4%), Pied Kingfisher (4%), Eurasian Golden Oriole (4%), Osprey (4%), Green-backed Camaroptera (2%), Black Cuckoo (2%), Common Snipe (2%), Common Sandpiper (2%), Red-throated Pipit (2%), Red-backed Shrike (2%)
- Kilifi region: Grey Heron (4%), Yellow-fronted Canary (2%), Brown-crowned Tchagra (2%), Greater Honeyguide (2%), Northern Puffback (2%)
What Connects a Running Shoe to Threatened Birds
The connection between contributing sneakers to Green Sneakers as a form of currency is direct and verifiable. The mangrove restoration and agroforestry that’s proven through veritree’s technology on the Green Sneakers site is not only new trees and greens. It means that threatened birds can return to habitats, which is a key part of healthy biodiversity.
What Mangrove Restoration Actually Does
Mangroves are misunderstood ecosystems because they’re tangled thickets at the edge of water. However, they’re very critical for biodiversity. For example, just one hectare of mangrove forest stores five times more carbon than the same area of forest. That happens because the roots trap sediment and crustaceans, and fish serve in the process.
What it means is the planet can’t afford to lose mangroves. Unfortunately, in places like Kenya and Tanzania, their loss has accelerated over the decades due to urbanization and overharvesting. In turn, it’s harmed communities that depend on them for storm protection to prevent flooding in their homes, for food, and income.
The Green Sneakers Program: Verified, Not Promised
The team at Green Sneakers is very proud of our partnership with veritree. During our partnership, which started in November of 2024, we’ve successfully achieved the following as of this writing:
- 16,664 trees ordered
- Of those, 9,992 are mangroves in the Kwale and Kilifi regions of Kenya
- 6,672 are agroforestry trees in Sud, Nippes, and Ouest in Haiti
Some sustainability efforts are full of pledges, but we don’t believe in promises that may not come to fruition. When our partners join Green Sneakers, veritree ensures that all planting sessions are recorded with GPS coordinates, lots of facts and stats and even photographic evidence.
The Carbon Sequestration Numbers
Currently, the 16,664 trees through Green Sneakers have helped to sequester an estimated 2,578 metric tons of CO₂. That’s equal to removing 560 cars from the road for an entire year. The restored areas cover 3.67 hectares of habitat and environmental impact, which is equivalent to 141 tennis courts of recovered coastline.
Haiti: The Human Dimension of Restoration
Haiti has a massive human displacement problem due to violence, with more than 1.2 million people fleeing the capital to rural areas. As the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, this movement has placed stress on rural regions as they absorb migrants. As a result, the agroforestry efforts in Sud, Nippes, and Ouest have been life-saving, creating jobs.
Between June and October, which is the planting window, hundreds of people, including displaced families, plant trees. In the process, they’re not only helping themselves with their work but also making a positive environmental impact. By integrating tree planting with crop work, there’s a reduction in monocropping, providing more dependable economies.
Your Invitation to Step Out of Throwaway Culture for Environmental Impact
If you’re like most runners, you likely have a pair, or two, or three of running shoes in your closet or storage. Did you know that those sneakers can take 30, 50, or even a whole human life to decompose fully in a landfill? The chances are that your sneakers have value and can become part of the Green Sneakers sneaker ruse and tree-planting program.
As a last resort (i.e., they’re in bad shape), you can donate them to a sneaker recycling program for grinding. But, again, that’s the last resort because grinding requires more energy. Instead, with sneaker reuse, you can join others redirecting sneakers into the reuse economy, which supports the planet and gives back to others.
If you’re ready to add your sneakers and those of your running club or community, then consider this your invitation to becoming a Green Sneakers partner. In the process, you’ll do something truly magnificent for the planet. So, come on and join others in turning running shoes into verified mangrove restoration and wildlife opportunities.
© 2026 Green Sneakers. All Rights Reserved.