Munira Anyonge (Kenyan Programme Director for TNC)

R:Ed In Conversation with Kenya Programme Director, for the TNC, Munira Anyonge

Munira Anyonge is the Kenya Programme Director for the Nature Conservancy (TNC). She works to protect the environment in economically viable and sustainable ways, ensuring that local communities and wildlife co-exist harmoniously, while preserving cultural values.

R:Ed: Could you tell me about wildlife conservation and management in Kenya?

In Kenya, we have three types of land as prescribed by the Constitution of 2010 which is the supreme law of the Republic and binds all persons and all State organisations. In Kenya, land is classified in three categories: (a) public land, (b) community land and private land.

  • Public land is unalienated government land – like a National Park or reserve – used or occupied by any government organisation.
  • Community land is vested and held by communities that are identified on the basis of ethnicity, culture or similar interests. All members of a community have rights to land held in this way through the 2016 Community Land Act.
  • Private land can be acquired by any individual or corporate entity, like a company or registered trust. There are restrictions on uses of private land for foreigners. Today, we are focusing on securing private land which was on a lease of 99-years. Space for wildlife is the biggest challenge for conservation because of population growth and competing land uses. Wildlife conservation is important for the tourism industry, so the government wants to conserve these lands and protect the endangered species, like rhinos, which are looking for homes. Loisaba used to be a rhino habitat so the terrain is ideal.

Loisaba is a private 56,000 acre property located in northern Kenya that The Nature Conservancy (TNC) helped secure in 2014 when funds were raised to purchase the land from the previous family owners, transferring ownership to the locally registered Loisaba Community Trust to ensure that it is protected as a critically important wildlife habitat. Conservation in Kenya consists of national parks and reserves; community and private conservancies. The Nature Conservancy is providing technical and funding support to Loisaba for its operations and conservation management.

The Nature Conservancy is the largest Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in the world whose mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. We are headquartered in Washington, Virginia, and we have offices in 72 countries worldwide. In Africa, we work in 9 countries and Kenya is one of them. Kenya has the biggest programme in Africa and houses the regional office for the Africa program. Our work in Kenya is focused on community-led conservation.

R:Ed: What role do the community play in conservation?

Community wildlife conservancies cover about 11% of Kenya’s landmass. These areas are managed by communities, with governance structures in place, supported by TNC and other conservation NGOs. We conserve our wildlife within national parks, reserves and wildlife conservancies that are open to allow movement of wildlife. Wildlife is a mobile resource; it moves in and out of national parks onto private or community land. About 65% of wildlife is outside the government protected areas. Therefore, the communities that coexist with wildlife are the ones that are managing these areas in collaboration with the Kenya Wildlife Service-the government agency that conserves and manages wildlife wherever it is.

We support communities that host wildlife on their land. We have a great story in Kenya, where the communities conserve the wildlife, while continuing to live the way they used to live and maintaining their cultural values. When tourists visit wildlife conservancies, the proceeds from gate fees are directed towards improving the livelihoods of the communities through provision of social services including education bursaries, healthcare, schools, and water provision. In Kenya, we have a registered and recognized national wildlife forum: Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association, that is the voice of wildlife conservancies. Kenya has about 160 wildlife conservancies, covering almost 11% of Kenya’s landmass. This is where you find the culture of the different ethnic groups in Kenya.

R:Ed: What was the situation like before?

Communities were co-existing with wildlife and experiencing human wildlife conflicts with no benefits or conservation management technical skills.  Now, because of the technical and funding support from donors and conservation NGOs like The Nature Conservancy, we have seen communities really accepting conservation as a land use option. Before that, communities viewed wildlife as a menace. There was human-wildlife conflict with crop and property destruction and human deaths. The narrative has changed and is still changing. Communities and the people of Kenya have seen the valuable benefits that we get from wildlife which is our national heritage. In Kenya the proceeds from tourism, which is the second economic earner, go back into the community towards improving social amenities.

They’ve been living with this wildlife from time immemorial. But now, they’re making use of the wildlife by getting tourists to come and pay the conservation fee, which is going back into helping communities economically. The Kenyan government has put measures in place to organize the wildlife conservation industry to benefit the people.

R:Ed: How can this be expanded further?

Kenya’s community led conservation is a model for the African continent. Other countries in Africa come to Kenya to learn from us. The next step is sustainability: how sustainable is conservation compared to other competing land uses like agriculture? We need to make community-led conservation a compelling economic benefit so that communities do not subdivide and sell the land that is so crucial for wildlife. We need to look at the sustainability framework, how do we sustain these areas?

Wildlife in Kenya has a major impact on the tourism industry. Space for wildlife is the biggest challenge because the national parks are not big enough. The people and government of Kenya want to secure the areas outside of the national parks for conservation. Conservation needs to be made compelling for communities to invest in, viewing wildlife as a land use option.

R:Ed: What problems have you faced?

Human-wildlife conflict. People being killed, crops and property being destroyed. Also, competing land uses with wildlife conservation areas.

R:Ed: How have you overcome these issues?

Economic benefits: putting measures in place so that wildlife and communities coexist in a harmonious way while improving their livelihoods.

R:Ed: What lessons can the rest of the world learn from Kenya?

Wildlife is a global good, a global product which needs protection. As a global people, we need to conserve and protect it. The world comes together in international forums and biodiversity conventions to discuss how to better manage our natural resources. Humans really depend on these natural resources. We continue to witness the destruction that is currently happening to our natural resources. We need to put climate adaptation and mitigation back on the discussion table. We must act now and protect nature.

R:Ed: What is the ultimate solution?

The next step is to work out how to make the 160 conservancies in Kenya have viable economic enterprises to sustain them, so that communities can keep the land intact for conservation while benefiting from good management.

We need to bring like-minded people together in terms of funding to have that happen. We need to make a call to governments, donors and conservation NGOs and act to save the planet.

 

R:Ed Halo

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