2026 One Health Innovations Vol 4 Issue 1 Tackling Deforestation as a One Health Wicked Problem

Deforestation, the large-scale removal of forested land for agriculture, mining, logging, and urbanization is a wicked problem affecting diverse stakeholders across transdisciplinary contexts. Current approaches often overlook Indigenous relational worldviews and community-led blue carbon strategies. This paper applies a One Health framework to examine deforestation through the lens of the Mikoko Pamoja mangrove restoration project in Gazi Bay, Kenya, demonstrating how grassroots initiatives address this wicked problem. The One Health model highlights complex interactions among humans, non-human animals, and the environment. Environmental degradation through biodiversity loss, water cycle disruption, and carbon emissions intersects with human and non-human animal health consequences, including zoonotic disease transmission, food insecurity, loss of livelihoods, habitat fragmentation, and population decline. Stakeholders, including local communities, Indigenous groups, governments, corporations, consumers, and environmental organizations, often hold conflicting values, requiring transdisciplinary collaboration to reach mutually beneficial solutions. Indigenous perspectives, particularly those of the Ogiek, view land as sacred and central to cultural practices and identity, opposing deforestation as a violation of ecological and cultural reciprocity. The Mikoko Pamoja project exemplifies a bottom-up approach that addresses deforestation through mangrove restoration, carbon credit financing, and community empowerment. However, challenges remain in scalability, voluntary carbon market volatility, and addressing global economic drivers. Sustainable solutions require collaborative approaches across all sectors. Artificial Intelligence Statement: All authors attest that the submitted article is original work, completed wholly by the group without the use of generative artificial intelligence tools or similar technologies in the research, drafting, or editing processes.