Tag: Endangered species

Located in southeastern Kenya within Taita Taveta County, the Taita Hills forests constitute a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA). Perched high on a series of ancient hills rising above the dryland plain, the Taita Hills forest fragments are like forest islands. These isolated forest fragments are known for their highest levels of endemism globally and form the northern part of the Eastern Arc Mountains. The forests include Ngangao, Iyale, Susu, Mbololo and Fururu, among others, managed by the Kenya Forest Service, while Chawia and Vuria are under the management of the county government of Taita Taveta.

The KBA provides crucial habitat for numerous endemic, endangered, and critically endangered species. Some species are found exclusively within this area, making it an Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) site. Notable species include the Taita Apalis, Taita Hills warty frog, Taita Thrush, Taita Hills purple-glossed snake, Taita Hills caecilian and Taita dwarf shrew.

Other globally threatened species reflecting the KBA’s critical conservation importance include the Taita White-eye, the endangered limbless Sagalla caecilian (which lives in the soil and leaf litter of the forest), the vulnerable small nocturnal primate known as the Taita Mountain dwarf galago (bushbaby), and the Taita blade-horned chameleon, among many others documented or yet to be discovered.

Despite the indisputable uniqueness of the KBA, it faces serious threats. These include rapid forest fires, mainly intentionally caused by community members clearing land for agriculture or due to the myth that forest fires lead to assured rainfall. The intensification of land use around the forest patches, driven by rapid population growth, has increased encroachment on the forests for agricultural production. Other threats include forest fragmentation, forest grazing, and climate change impacts. Additionally, the forests are threatened by an invasive species of dodder plant (Cuscuta sp.), a parasitic vine that grows rapidly, entwining and parasitising host plants, potentially threatening the survival of the forests and their biodiversity.

Conservation efforts that focus on preserving and restoring these diverse forest fragments are essential for ensuring the survival of the unique biodiversity they harbour. Concerted efforts by the national government, county government of Taita Taveta, non-governmental organisations, and local community members are evident. Taita Taveta County was the first to sign an agreement with the national government regarding the devolvement of forestry in 2013/14. The county has been at the forefront of developing forest management plans for Chawia and Vuria forest fragments and is actively formulating the forest and landscape restoration implementation plan (FOLAREP). The community, through a local conservation group known as the Dawida Biodiversity Conservation Group (DABICO), in partnership with Nature Kenya, is sensitising the community about preventing forest fires, discouraging the use of the dodder plant for beautification purposes, and participating in other initiatives such as ‘adopt-a-forest’ to enhance restoration of degraded forest landscapes within the Key Biodiversity Area (KBA).

By Rebecca Ikachoi

Imagine waking up one morning to find your cattle killed by a lion, leopard or hyena, or worse, sustaining serious injuries while trying to protect your livestock from a predator attack. This is an everyday reality for the communities living in the Maasai Mara landscape. The frequency of these grievous occurrences begs the question: do human-wildlife conflicts (HWC) happen due to the community’s inability to coexist peacefully with wildlife, or are the majestic carnivores partly to blame? More importantly, can we ever solve these conflicts or are our competing interests and needs too big for this challenge?

Traditional approaches to managing HWC, such as financial compensation, use of physical barriers, and translocation interventions, among others, have proven ineffective due to their focus on wildlife conservation while neglecting community needs. As a result, Nature Kenya is promoting alternative HWC management approaches that promote community participation and engagement in wildlife conservation, aimed at fostering coexistence between people, livestock and wildlife.

In the Maasai Mara landscape, Nature Kenya, with support from the Darwin Initiative, is implementing a number of community-led initiatives, for instance, the livelihood improvement program. Local communities in Mara are highly dependent on livestock rearing. The high wildlife density makes them vulnerable to HWC, leading to significant loss of livelihoods. This informed the need to diversify livelihood options to minimize over-reliance on livestock rearing. The aim is to improve community livelihoods by encouraging safer onfield herding practices, improved household livestock protection and promoting sustainable nature-based enterprises like beekeeping.

Nature Kenya also holds community-led discussion forums (barazas) at the village level to explore and agree on feasible solutions to managing HWC at the grassroot level. For instance, working with the communities, a guide on the best herding practices was developed. The guide is now being promoted across the landscape to reduce livestock predation incidents at the grazing fields.

The engagement of community volunteers is also pertinent to our conservation work as it enhances ecological awareness and knowledge, increasing understanding and support for conservation efforts. Community volunteers are involved in monitoring species, reporting poisoning incidents, helping with awareness-raising campaigns and recording vulture sightings, with data reported on a monthly basis. This data is essential as it guides conservation interventions within the landscape.

To better understand the needs of the communities and their perceptions of wildlife conservation, Nature Kenya recently conducted focus group discussions within selected villages across the landscape. We conducted this exercise to gauge community attitudes towards wildlife conservation, track changes in community attitudes towards wildlife poisoning and measure the adoption of previously proposed HWC mitigation interventions. The discussions, which involved men, women and youth, provide refreshingly positive feedback that engaging communities in wildlife conservation, and providing opportunities for participation in wildlife conservation through programs such as the community volunteer network, fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility towards the wildlife.

Community-centred conservation interventions are essential in promoting wildlife conservation and fostering coexistence between people and wildlife, as communities get the opportunity to share their perspectives on HWC management and propose solutions to the everyday challenges they face.

By Martin Kiama

Mount Kenya – a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) – is in the limelight for several reasons, from being the second-highest volcanic mountain in Africa to being a World Heritage Site, a major catchment feeding the Tana and Ewaso Ngiro basins and a tourist destination attracting about 20,000 local and international visitors annually.

The mountain’s unique montane forest offers a range of essential ecosystem services valued at US$220 annually. These include the provision of water, energy, food, medicines, timber and habitat for biodiversity. Mount Kenya Forest helps to conserve soil fertility, regulate the climate and store carbon dioxide. The forest also provides livelihoods to adjacent communities.

One of the many community groups reaping ecosystem benefits from Mount Kenya Forest is the Mt. Kenya Biodiversity Conservation Group (Mt. KEBIO). Mt. KEBIO, the Site Support Group (SSG) for the Mount Kenya Forest KBA, is engaged in eco-tourism and other nature-based enterprises. The group organises hikes to the forest and bird-watching excursions. Thirteen of its members are professional tour guides trained in mountain climbing, map navigation, first aid and rescue, and ornithology, among other skills. Local and international tourists make up Mt. KEBIO’s ecotourism clients. Neighbouring hospitality facilities like the Mountain Rock Hotel also contract the group for tour guiding and birding services.

In 2023, Mt. KEBIO held 12 monthly bird walks in different forest and wetlands habitats within Mount Kenya. The group participated in the May and October Global Big Days, conducted two Abbott’s Starling monitoring surveys at Castle Forest and two biodiversity assessments.

Mt. KEBIO also operates three tree nurseries, namely Tumaini, Mazingira and Gathiuru, that currently have 11,400 indigenous and exotic tree seedlings. Last year, the SSG distributed 7,400 tree seedlings to schools, churches and community members. The SSG collaborated with other conservation groups to support restoration of Nanyuki River through the planting of indigenous trees and construction of gabions to control degradation of the river banks. So far, 1200 trees have been planted and six gabions constructed through an initiative dubbed `A Tree for My River`.

To ensure the sustainability of the ecosystem benefits, the group conducts awareness creation activities to promote environmental conservation knowledge in Mount Kenya, reaching 240 pupils from local primary schools. The group also hosted several conservation clubs from institutions, including Thika Technical Training Institute and Red Cross members from Laikipia County.