The Political Economy of Wildlife Conservation and Decline in Kenya

Kabiri, Ngeta

doi:10.1177/1070496510384463

Cited by 15 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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Section: Diversification Of Livelihood Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet, the Kenya government neither pays these costs nor compensates land owners for their contribution to wildlife conservation (Kabiri 2010). The Kenyan state also implements policies that reject government responsibility for wildlife damage to private property (Kabiri 2010). Most of the private land owners lack control, ownership and use rights over wildlife as well as financial incentives to conserve wildlife on their lands (Norton-Griffith & Said 2010).…”

Section: Diversification Of Livelihood Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Herbivore Dynamics and Range Contraction in Kajiado County Kenya: Climate and Land Use Changes, Population Pressures, Governance, Policy and Human-wildlife Conflicts

Ogutu¹,

Piepho

Said³

et al. 2014

TOECOLJ

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Wildlife populations are declining severely in many protected areas and unprotected pastoral areas of Africa. Rapid large-scale land use changes, poaching, climate change, rising population pressures, governance, policy, economic and socio-cultural transformations and competition with livestock all contribute to the declines in abundance. Here we analyze the population dynamics of 15 wildlife and four livestock species monitored using aerial surveys from 1977 to 2011 within Kajiado County of Kenya, with a rapidly expanding human population, settlements, cultivation and other developments. The abundance of the 14 most common wildlife species declined by 67% on average (2% / yr) between 1977 and 2011 in both Eastern (Amboseli Ecosystem) and Western Kajiado. The species that declined the most were buffalo, impala, wildebeest, waterbuck, oryx, hartebeest, Thomson's gazelle and gerenuk in Eastern Kajiado (70% to 88%) and oryx, hartebeest, impala, buffalo, waterbuck, giraffe, eland and gerenuk in Western Kajiado (77% to 99%). Only elephant (115%) and ostrich (216%) numbers increased contemporaneously in Eastern and Western Kajiado, respectively. Cattle and donkey numbers also decreased on average by 78% in Eastern Kajiado and by 37% in Western Kajiado. Sheep and goats decreased the least in Eastern (28%) but increased in Western (96%) Kajiadio. Livestock dominated (70-80%) the total large herbivore biomass throughout the 1977-2011 monitoring period. The distribution of wildlife contracted dramatically during 1977-2011, most especially for wildebeest, giraffe and impala. Only zebra and ostrich distributions expanded in the county. However, livestock distribution expanded to densely cover most of the county. Our findings point to recurrent droughts, intensifying human population pressures, land use changes and other anthropogenic impacts, decades of ineffective or failed government policies, legislations, law enforcement, management institutions and strategies as the salient causes of the declines and range compressions. We recommend several urgent measures to rehabilitate the depleted wildlife populations and habitat richness, restore their ecological resilience to droughts and secure pastoral livelihoods.

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Section: Diversification Of Livelihood Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Diversification Of Livelihood Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Herbivore Dynamics and Range Contraction in Kajiado County Kenya: Climate and Land Use Changes, Population Pressures, Governance, Policy and Human-wildlife Conflicts

Ogutu¹,

Piepho

Said³

et al. 2014

TOECOLJ

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“…Long-term negative outcomes include loss of biodiversity, soil compaction, the emergence of new pests and diseases, and nutrient mining (Watson and van Binsbergen 2006). The protection of wildlife through the delineation of Table 3 Investments and policies required along the distance to the market continuum national parks often excludes these areas from exploitation and restricts pastoral mobility, while only few of the benefits flow back to the pastoralist communities (Homewood et al 2009;Kabiri 2010). In addition, the development of pastoral livelihoods typically involves a mix of interventions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policies in support of pastoralism and biodiversity in the heterogeneous drylands of East Africa

Notenbaert

Davies

Leeuw

et al. 2012

Pastor Res Policy Pract

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Research and practice are increasingly demonstrating the environmental benefits of pastoralism and the opportunity for sustainable development of pastoral communities through a combination of livestock and biodiversity-related business. To take full advantage of the potential biodiversity-pastoral synergies, it will be crucial to put in place supporting policies. They need to be embedded in the context of overall pastoral development. However, rangelands and pastoral societies in drylands are heterogeneous, and development options cannot be assumed to be uniform. Factors such as aridity, access to markets and population pressure influence the constraints and the opportunities for both pastoral and non-pastoral communities. We describe the differential challenges to development along these gradients and identify investment priorities if the policy objectives were to support the complementarities between pastoralism and biodiversity conservation.

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“…A long history of exclusion, resulting in antagonistic and contentious relationships between the pastoralist and conservation sectors, has stifled cooperation (71,74,76,77,78,79,80). Furthermore, the relative marginalisation of pastoralists within conservation initiatives, their exclusion from decision-making processes regarding their land, and increased restrictions on the use of natural resources have contributed to fraught relationships (81).…”

Section: Conservation and Community Landsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pastoralism and wildlife: historical and current perspectives in the East African rangelands of Kenya and Tanzania

Lankester¹,

Davis²

2016

Rev. Sci. Tech. OIE

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SummaryThe relationship between pastoralists, their livestock, wildlife and the rangelands of East Africa is multi-directional, complex and long-standing. The tumultuous events of the past century, however, have rewritten the nature of this relationship, reshaping the landscapes that were created, and relied upon, by both pastoralists and wildlife. Presently, much of the interaction between wildlife and pastoralists takes place in and around protected areas, the most contentious occurring in pastoral lands surrounding national parks. In conservation terminology these areas are called buffer zones. In the past century buffer zones have been shaped by, and contributed to, restrictive conservation policies, expropriation of land, efforts to include communities in conservation, both positive and negative wildlife/livestock interactions, and political tensions. In this review paper, the authors outline the history that shaped the current relationship between pastoralists, livestock and wildlife in buffer zones in East Africa and highlight some of the broader issues that pastoralists (and pastoralism as an effective livelihood strategy) now face. Finally, they consider some of the sustainable and equitable practices that could be implemented to improve livelihoods and benefit wildlife and pastoralism alike.

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The Political Economy of Wildlife Conservation and Decline in Kenya

Cited by 15 publications

References 17 publications

Herbivore Dynamics and Range Contraction in Kajiado County Kenya: Climate and Land Use Changes, Population Pressures, Governance, Policy and Human-wildlife Conflicts

Herbivore Dynamics and Range Contraction in Kajiado County Kenya: Climate and Land Use Changes, Population Pressures, Governance, Policy and Human-wildlife Conflicts

Policies in support of pastoralism and biodiversity in the heterogeneous drylands of East Africa

Pastoralism and wildlife: historical and current perspectives in the East African rangelands of Kenya and Tanzania

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