UBC Wiki:Community Conservancies across Northern Kenya.

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Introduction

There is little to no active community conservancies in northern Kenya currently. This is due to multiple obstacles, such as violent battles waged between pastoralists and has led to rampant poaching due to weak security, and heavy deforestation, which has led to habitat loss for all types of fauna.

Conservancies

Definition

Wildlife conservancies are portions of land managed by an individual, corporation, or wider community that protects biodiversity in order to enhance the livelihoods of the population.

History of Conservation in Northern Kenya

Historically, national parks and conservation efforts have been associated with gruesome experiences with the ivory trade. "Ivory was bought with blood", at the cost of human suffering, from burnt villages and the destroying of crops to people being kidnapped, starved, and killed (Lusigi, 1981, p.88). During both world worlds, there was a widespread slaughter of wildlife to feed prisoners of war, and agricultural development started an alienating attitude of regarding all game as vermin, and it was treated as such (Lusigi, 1981) Indigenous African groups were displaced from their lands in order to create national parks, and "confrontation with the game laws has sent many of the male to prison - experiences which have solidified the negative attitudes toward wildlife and its conservation" (Lusigi, 1981, p.88).Clearly defined communal land ownership, and the ability to exclude outsiders from using the area under protection with the local people's best interest considered, are necessary for sustainable group-based conservation to occur (Greiner, 2012)

Biodiversity Status/Projections

The over-hunting of wild animals is a primary driver of species decline in Northern Kenya.(Ihwagi, 2015). Further, deforestation and over-exploitation of resources is the second main driving factor in biodiversity loss. Therefore research on the effects of local peoples' environmental impact is needed for a balance of prioritizing their use of the forest with conservation goals (Borghesio, 2008).

Ecological Considerations/Implications

As Kenya's population is growing rapidly, the pressure is put on National Parks, its current main conservation initiative. Considering only one-fifth of the land receives enough rainfall to support productive agriculture, the status of National Parks drastically affects land system change (Lusigi, 1981). Most of the national parks across Northern Kenya were formed on derived grasslands maintained by fire, and in its absence, the land is reverting to woody vegetation unsuitable for game adapted to grass plains (Lusigi, 1981). The impact of tourism on the areas is the second main ecological factor putting a strain on the success of National Parks (Lusigi, 1981).

Key Conservation Issues

Elephant Poaching

In Northern Kenya, conservation efforts are threatened by the poaching of elephants for the ivory found in their tusks. In fact, in 2012 over 70% of recorded deaths of elephants were due to illegal poaching (Ihwagi, 2015). This is partly because most of the poaching, strongly related to land use type, occurs within designated national reserves where there is less stringent monitoring (Ihwagi, 2015). Efforts to curb elephant poaching have focused on reducing demand, confiscating ivory, and boosting security patrols in elephant range (Ihwagi, 2015). The most successful models of land use based on elephant density and levels of illegal killing in the study were private ranching and community conservation (Ihwagi, 2015). The promotion of ecotourism bring the main economy for private ranchers would result in better protection of elephants. (Ihwagi, 2015).

Deforestation

Due to deforestation, species exclusive to forested areas are losing their homes in favour of nectarivores, aerial insectivores, granivores, and omnivores (Borghesio, 2008). However human activity has improved the diversity of forest avifaunas (birds).

Economic Barriers

Arid and semi arid lands suffer from a lot of poverty, because the main economic activities such as livestock production and small scale farming, are characterized by poor market access, susceptibility to adverse climate conditions, and contribute to the degradation of the environment (Chretin, 2008). Since over 80% of Kenya is comprised of land where the main economic activity is pastoralism, developing new market outlets such as Gum Arabic could drastically improve the economy and livelihood security of pastoralists (Chretin, 2008).

Proposed solutions

Rapid-response Teams

Having on the ground teams trained in the rapid-response and in wildlife enforcement. Included in this efforts are park rangers who are heavily involved in anti-poaching.

Increase in revenue

By both creating new tourism initiatives and sanctuaries, as well as expanding infrastructure areas of Northern Kenya can experience increased income which can be reinvested in education systems and businesses that will further improve community conservancies.

SACCO

One initiative accredited by the UN is the Nasaruni Savings and Credit Co-operative (SACCO), of which there are 1,340 members for the SACCO, which has a focus on assisting communities in their efforts to access market products through loans. (https://unfccc.int/climate-action/momentum-for-change/activity-database/establishing-community-wildlife-conservancies)

The four building blocks

Panorama suggests four building blocks which when working together provide an efficient and affective solution to community conservancies. These include community partnerships, stakeholder collaboration, science and research, and business leadership. https://panorama.solutions/en/building-block/community-partnerships

Gum Arabic

A potential solution is the abundance of gum arabic in Northern Kenya. Gum Arabic is an under-exploited resource due to its low price, and if given the proper technology and harvesting techniques, it could be a very lucrative market to tap into for Kenyans (Chretin, 2008). This could be a chance to convert pastoralists to harvesters and alleviate some of the existing conflicts (Chretin, 2008).

Improved Water Use

Better regulation of water and soil erosion in arid areas of Northern Kenya, applied through a few simple steps such an agroforestry combined with mulching and minimum tillage, can drastically improve water use (Liniger, 1992). This can help ensure agricultural sustainability in arid regions where pastoralist are not used to dryland farming.

References

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