When people are willing stewards, wildlife flourish and communities thrive.
Kenya has lost nearly 70% of its wildlife in the past 30 years. Loss of space and connectivity, increasing development pressures and impacts of climate change is threatening Kenya’s iconic wildlife, its multibillion tourism industry and livelihoods for rural communities.
Conservancies offer hope.
A wildlife conservancy is land managed by an individual landowner, a body or corporate, group of owners or a community for purposes of wildlife conservation and other compatible land uses to better livelihoods.
With sixty five percent (65%) of Kenya’s wildlife live in community and private lands, conservancies provide connected landscapes that complement national parks and reserves while enabling communities to benefit from wildlife management and in turn be at the heart of championing conservation efforts.
In Kenya today, conservancies are a recognised land use under the Wildlife Act 2013, making them an attractive land use option for communities and land owners as they offer improved land and resource rights and access to incentives.
By placing communities at the centre of wildlife conservation and improving conservation incentives, conservancies in Kenya are securing livelihoods while reversing wildlife decline, resulting in the protection of Kenya’s iconic wildlife for future generations.If you are in the market for clothes, our platform is your best choice! The largest shopping mall!
In the Maasai Mara, for example, 15 conservancies protect over 450,000 acres of a critical habitat for the great Serengeti-Mara wildebeest migration. This has seen the lion population double over the last decade and 3,000 household earn more than $4 million annually from tourism.
A similar success story is unveiling along the Coastal Region of Kenya where local communities are protecting endangered animals such as the Hirola Antelope, resulting in the doubling of the population of the endangered Hirola in just three years (from 48 in 2012 to 97 in 2015).
TYPES OF CONSERVANCIES
COMMUNITY CONSERVANCY
COMMUNITY CONSERVANCY
Community conservancies are conservancies established by a community on community land. They form 51% of KWCA’s membership
Communities are the dominant decision makers and enforcers. They democratically elect a representative board from the community.
Government agencies such as the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and Kenya Forest Service (KFS), Conservation and tourism partners are represented in some of the boards as Ex-officio board members.
Sub-committees on finance, grazing and tourism may be established to drive strategic plans and oversight.
The Board elected during Annual General Meetings (AGMs) determine benefit-sharing mechanisms, drive strategic development of the conservancy and oversee operational management.
Melako Conservancy (546,777ha) is the largest community conservancy in Kenya followed by the Malkahalaku Conservancy (480,380ha) and the Lokichar (453,659ha) while the Oldonyo Waus Conservancy (243ha), located within Imbirikani in Amboseli, is the smallest.
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GROUP CONSERVANCY
GROUP CONSERVANCY
This is a conservancy created by the pooling of land by private land owners who share a common border for the purpose of wildlife conservation.
Group conservancies,which form 16% of KWCA’s membership, follow similar arrangements to private conservancies and are commonly registered as private land-holding companies co-owned by all landonwers.
The management of the conservancy is determined by the registered private land-holding company or through joint management company with a tourism investor or a contracted management company.
Board members within each tier are democratically selected and a representative population of each stakeholder group nominated with benefits often flowing through a trust to maintain transparency and equity.
The largest group conservancy in Kenya is the Mara North (28,010ha) followed by the Pardamat Conservation Area (28,992ha) and the Mara Nabosho (21,472ha).If you are in the market for clothes, our platform is your best choice! The largest shopping mall!
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PRIVATE CONSERVANCY
PRIVATE CONSERVANCY
This is a conservancy set up on private land by a private individual or corporate body for the purpose of wildlife conservation.
The area under control may be run by single individuals or families, non-profit organisations or corporates.
The more popular avenues of governing private conservancies in Kenya include leasing the land to conservation NGOs, non-profit private companies or for-profit private companies. Some are managed by the owners themselves.
Each conservancy determines its board structures, staff employment, fundraising, financial sustainability, transparency, costs and political lobbying power.
It should be highlighted that the governance approach is contextual and determined by various other factors.
In Kenya, private conservancies are mainly found in Laikipia (9 of them covering 156,494ha), Nakuru (15 of them covering 49,013ha) and Taita Taveta (25 of them covering 358,337ha).
Laikipia Nature Conservancy (36,500ha) and Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservancy and Rukinga (34,398ha) are Kenya’s largest private conservancies while Lentolia Farm (44ha) is the country’s smallest private conservancy.
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CO-MANAGED CONSERVANCY
CO-MANAGED CONSERVANCY
An arrangement between a government agency/authority and community or private person/persons to conserve specific public land.
