Win As Kenya Suspends Permits, Licences For Development In Wildlife Conservation Areas

Kenya has announced a temporary suspension of all permits and licenses for development in key wildlife conservation areas in the country.

In an advisory letter by the chief of staff, and head of the public service, Felix Koskei to various stakeholder ministries and key players in the wildlife conservation areas the government advises that priority should be given to implementing pending directives by the president in a past stakeholders meeting.

“In a meeting between H.E. the president and the wildlife conservation players, land management matters (ownership, adjudication, change of user) in Kenya were flagged out as some of the issues affecting sustainable wildlife conservation and management in the country.”

“Consequently, it was decided that to address the issues, the following presidential directives be implemented with immediate effect,” read part of the letter.

This follows concerns of growing evidence of escalating wildlife loss, with a drastic decline of wildlife populations between 1977 and 2013 – on average by 67 per cent.

The declines have been attributed to rapid growth in human population and associated pressures on resources due to land use change, infrastructure development, and poaching.

The directive prohibits the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) from issuing licenses and permits for various projects in wildlife conservation areas termed as key, especially in Kajiado, Machakos (Athi-Kapiti corridor), Narok, Laikipia, Taita Taveta and Baringo areas, until conservation policy is made.

The concerned parties are also required to implement the wildlife corridors and dispersal areas task force report-2016 with Athi-Kapiti corridor as a high priority area, further to that, land subdivision and change of land use in the mentioned areas has also been prohibited until conservation policy is finalized.

The president also ordered the ministry of lands and physical planning to fast-track implementation of the community Land Act 2016 and also a review the National Land use policy and the physical Land use Act 2019, to include conservation as a land use category in the country and that all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) responsible for various issues identified form a multi-sectorial team, to formulate and implement the country’s conservation policy to be spear-headed by the State Department for Wildlife (SDW).

“The purpose of this letter therefore, is to request you to take note of this presidential directives and update this office periodically on the progress made on the above assignments.”

Officials said the move will bring yields to conservationists and the country at large.

Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association (TTWCA) Chief Executive Officer Alfred Mwanake said that the directive is important as it helps conservation actors to organize themselves, organize the conservation space and prioritize deliverables on their action plans into seeing how wildlife will be able to coexist with other nature based enterprises and compatible developments.

“A research by WWF in 2022 cites that since 1970s, an average of 69% of global wildlife have been lost, so, in order to compensate and particularly restore our pride, we need to stop developments which cant coexist with wildlife, because such lead to biodiversity loss,” Mwanake said.

Wildlife migratory corridors connect core habitats and are critical for species’ survival and long-term viability of ecosystems.
In the African savannah, animals disperse or migrate across landscapes in response to intrinsic factors (for example breeding), external or environmental factors such as drought, floods, diseases, fires, to access vital resources such as pasture, water, breeding grounds, to reduce the risks of predation; and to enhance genetic health (mating), among others.

Migration is essential for sustaining resilience of large populations in the face of variable rainfall, which is highly correlated to availability and shortage of forage.

Connectivity conservation recognises the importance of physical connection and linkages between isolated habitats that increase the effective area available to wildlife.
In the assessment of wildlife dispersal areas and migratory corridors, the conservation connectivity framework was used a variety of data sources, scales and analyses in the context of inclusiveness and collaborative stakeholder involvement.

The datasets included remote sensing maps on land cover/use, sample and total counts from low-level aerial surveys, ground counts, wildlife collar tracking, expert knowledge, and interviews with key informants.

Geotechnologies were used for spatial analysis and modeling.

Specific wildlife habitats were characterized and defined based on the drivers, pressures, state, impacts and responses framework to understand socio-ecological and economic interactions as they relate to resource planning and decision-making, as well as to prioritize opportunities, threats and desired actions.

A total of 58 migratory routes and corridors were identified in the southern Kenya rangeland ecosystems: Maasai-Mara ecosystem (17); Eburu Forest and Lakes Naivasha-Elmentaita-Nakuru conservation and ecological area (8), Athi-Kaputiei and Nairobi National Park (7), South Rift (8), Amboseli and west Kilimanjaro (8), and the Tsavo Conservation Area (10).

Fifty-two migratory routes or corridors were identified in the northern Kenya rangelands and coastal terrestrial ecosystems.

Almost all the wildlife dispersal areas and migratory corridors in the Kenya rangelands have been interfered with by human activities to an extent; some are highly threatened or have been completely blocked.

For example, the collapse of wildlife populations in the Athi-Kaputiei area and subsequent curtailment of their movement from the Kajiado plains into Nairobi National Park has been attributed to high-density settlements, fences and subdivision along the Kitengela-Namanga highway.

The main threats to habitat connectivity are incompatible land use in wildlife areas, including expansion of crop cultivation along the rainfall gradient, high-density settlements, fences, mining and quarrying, woodland clearing, wetland drainage, high-density livestock presence, and poaching.

The task force report has been catering dust in government shelves.