PASTORALISM AND LAND TENURE
Name
Walden
NASC 1001 - Environmental Science
2022
The Evolution of Conservation Policies and Legislation
The Wildlife Act
Kenya conserves its biodiversity through protected area systems in form of National Parks,
Reserves and Sanctuaries which cover 8% of the Kenyan landmass (Wildlife policy, 2009).
However, these are insufficient for conservation of wildlife. The surrounding community and
private lands provide dispersal areas for food, water, security and breeding grounds. Sessional Paper
No. 3 of 1976 recognizes community wildlife conservation as a wildlife management strategy. The
Wildlife (Conservation and Management) Act Cap 376 also places emphasis on community wildlife
conservation by giving KWS the mandate under Section 3A (i) to advice the Government, Local
Authorities and land owners on the best methods of wildlife conservation and management. Kenya
Wildlife Service (KWS) is empowered to provide wildlife conservation education and extension
services to create public awareness and support for wildlife policies. The Policy and Act aforesaid
provide for active community participation in wildlife conservation and management outside
protected areas.
One of the functions of KWS is to establish linkages and gain support for wildlife conservation with
stakeholders/communities. This function is achieved through the KWS strategic objectives of
achieving wildlife industry governance and enhancing partnerships with all the stakeholders in
wildlife resource conservation. The land outside Protected Areas is largely under the control of
private owners and communities. Their cooperation is essential for the success of conservation
activities, as the majority of these lands are subject to a multiplicity of uses some of which conflict
with wildlife conservation.
The issues that affect conservation outside protected areas include human-wildlife conflict, wildlife
insecurity, space for wildlife, limited technical and financial capacity to manage wildlife, limited
wildlife education and awareness and slow implementation of land use policies.
The wildlife Act cap 376 places emphasis on wildlife resources to compete with any other form of
land use as an economic activity. With proper incentives given to community and private land
owners who adopt wildlife as a form of land use, land use practices that are incompatible with
wildlife conservation can be minimized or confined to appropriate areas. This can be achieved
through training, capacity building, education, awareness creation and creation of synergies with
stakeholders
2.12 Environmental Degradation
The quality of land in the Rimoi ecosystem is generally declining due to inappropriate agricultural
techniques practiced, effects of climate change, Soil erosion, pollution and toxicity from agro-
chemicals. Soil erosion is the main form of land degradation and is most prevalent in Rimoi this is
due to the fragile ecosystem, water run offs from the upper Kerio escarpment, localized
overstocking. Environmental degradation in Rimoi is influenced by amount of rainfall erosivity, soil
erodibility, gradient of the land and soil cover. Soil erosion reduces soil fertility and has had
implications on land productivity, livestock carrying capacity and water quality in kerio river. Land
degradation has huge economic costs. It is estimated that the losses at the national scale amount to
USD 390 million annually or about 3 per cent of GDP.
WILDLIFE BENEFITS
WILDLIFE PROTECTION IN THE KENYAN CONTEXT
For millennia, pastoralists have shared landscapes with wildlife throughout Africa (Homewood and
Rodgers 1991, Little et al. 1999, Pilgram et al. 1990). Throughout the 21St century, this co-existence
has been in decline as conservation policy excluded people and livestock from protected areas, and
demographic growth and expanding agriculture excluded wildlife use (Ellis and Swift 1988,
Homewood et al. 2001, Western and Gichohi 1993). The decline of African pastoralists is widely
acknowledged (Spear and Waller 1993, Thompson and Homewood 2002). Many pastoral systems
across the globe, including those of Maasai pastoralists are under unprecedented pressure to
diversify livestock-based economies (Fratkin 1993, Fratkin et al. 1999,)
In East Africa, an estimated 70 percent of wildlife populations are dispersed outside protected areas
(PAs) on land which overlaps with pastoralism (Western and Gichohi 1993). The presence of
unfenced and uncultivated communal lands adjacent to PAs increases the total range of resources
available to wildlife and enhances long-term survival as predicted by island bio-geographic theory
(Western and Ssemakula 1981). The Rimoi ecosystem exemplifies this.
Conservation of the Rimoi wildlife migratory corridors and dispersal areas largely depends on
maintaining communal land unsubdivided and the communities engaging in land use practices
compatible with wildlife conservation. The progressive conversion of communal/ pastoral
rangelands to large-scale farming and permanent subsistence agriculture are contributing to the
insularisation of Rimoi national reserve. Continued subdivision and an increase in human settlement
with intensive agricultural activities are likely to result in increased wildlife declines in the
ecosystem. Despite conservation efforts being undertaken by all the stake holders in the area
poverty levels in the community has increased, human wildlife conflicts are on the rise, wildlife
populations continue to decline, and rates of land use change to agriculture are increasing at
substantial rates.
In Kenya, 27 species of fauna are classified by IUCN in the Red List of Threatened Species as
endangered. Wildlife habitats undergo a loss of 10% each year (IUCN, 1989). The IUCN report
alleged that the degree of habitat loss is correlated to an increasing human population and diversity
of land use which do not integrate wildlife conservation. It added that many wildlife populations are
threatened by their isolation due to their habitat fragmentation and the blockage of migratory routes
(IUCN, 2004). Obviously Kenyan government has been aware of wildlife importance since it
generates a significant income indirectly from tourism. Tourism has become the second biggest
active sector, providing 19% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) after agriculture which
contributes a GDP of 26% (ISS, 2006; UNECA, 2005).
Therefore in 1945, the National parks ordinance was declared, setting up 59 national parks and
reserves which represented 8% of the wildlife territorial habitats there by enhancing wildlife
protection and also promoting tourism. However not all the wild animals are concentrated in these
protected areas, 70% live outside of the established national parks and game reserves. In 1989, a
wildlife management authority called Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) was created. Not only
charged with the responsibility of Wildlife conservation and management but also was to giving
penalties for wildlife mistreatment as well helping communities against wildlife damages (Kenya
Land Alliance, 2005).
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