State rolls out Sh98m to save wildlife from drought

The drought is ravaging various parts of the country.

The drought situation remains critical in 22 of the 23 arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) counties due to the late onset and poor performance of the much-anticipated October to December 2022 short rains, coupled with four previous consecutive failed rainfall seasons.

According to the National Drought Management Authority, nine ASALs counties, namely, Kilifi, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Turkana, Wajir, Isiolo, Kitui and Kajiado are in the alarm drought phase while 13 counties are in Alert drought phase.

They are Garissa, Lamu, Narok, Tana River, Makueni, Tharaka Nithi, Baringo, Laikipia, Meru, Taita Taveta, West Pokot, Nyeri and Kwale.

Only Embu county is currently classified in the normal drought phase.

Some 4.35 million Kenyans are in dire need of humanitarian assistance and the state has rolled out some of the interventions.

Wildlife too is feeling the heat.

The Kenya Wildlife Service acting director general Dr Erustus Kanga has termed the ongoing drought situation as "tough to wildlife."

“We had expected the rains to be more and spread across the country. Unfortunately, the rains were not adequate and neither were they uniform,” Dr Kanga said.

Dr Kanga said the country has lost some wildlife while in other areas, human-wildlife conflicts have increased as wildlife moves around looking for scarce resources such as water and pasture.

“Similarly, livestock is also moving into the same landscapes hence amplifying the conflicts,” the acting KWS director general said. 

Experts had predicted that human-wildlife conflicts were set to sharply rise due to competition over resources.

Dr Kanga said the situation with regard to conflicts is not good.

However, he said, the service is working on mechanisms to create co-existence frameworks with local communities.

“That is why in the intervention measures we also provide water and hay to livestock outside the national parks,” the KWS acting director general said. 

As an intervention, Dr Kanga said many water pans have been done, particularly in Tsavo East and West national parks.

The two parks are reported to have been worst hit by the drought.

On January 25, Kanga accompanied the Wildlife Principal Secretary Silvia Museiya on a familiarisation field trip to Tsavo East and West national parks, where they inspected the newly built water pans.

On November 5 last year, the Wildlife Research and Training Institute  released a report showing that most iconic species had died due to lack of water and pasture.

The institute said then that urgent and immediate interventions must be put in place to help save the animals dying in various ecosystems and conservancies due to lack of water and forage.

The WRTI, in a study, said that in the last two seasons (October 2021 to May 2022), the country has received rainfall below average, and more than 1,000 deaths have been recorded.

The most affected species are the wildebeests, common zebras, elephants, Grevy’s zebras and buffalos, with Amboseli, Tsavo, and Laikipia-Samburu ecosystems being hard hit.

In the statistics, 512 wildebeests, 381 common zebras, 205 elephants, 49 Grevy’s zebras and 51 buffalos had died.

“The Amboseli and Laikipia-Samburu ecosystems are worst affected by the drought having recorded more than 70 elephants’ deaths... the continued worsening of the drought condition could affect more rhinos in overstocked rhino sanctuaries,” reads the report.

Most of the elephant mortality cases were recorded in Amboseli, Laikipia-Samburu, and Tsavo conservancies.

The institute had recommended that wildlife be provided with water as well as salt licks in the most affected ecosystems of Amboseli.

“We recommend the immediate provision of hay to Grevy’s zebra in northern Kenya should be enhanced over the next two months of November and December to cover a wider area,” WRTI said.

The institute had also called for the allocation of funds from the Treasury to support the National Wildlife Census in 2024 to establish the impact of the current drought on wildlife populations in all the affected ecosystems.

“WRTI should be supported to undertake well-structured monitoring of wildlife mortality in all protected areas to better understand the effects of the drought and recommend future action plans,” reads the report. 

Provision of funding to support the destocking of Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary (Tsavo West National Park) and prevent any imminent drought-related mortality of black rhinos in the sanctuary is another plan.

In seeking to mitigate the effects, President William Ruto has said that the Kenya Wildlife Service will be allocated Sh200 million to support wild animals dying in huge numbers in parks and game reserves to track water.

Dr Kanga said 12 water pans have recently been desilted while preparations were ongoing for another nine.

The acting director general said preparations are ongoing for Meru National Park, Kora National Park, and Amboseli National Park to have more water pans.

This, he said, will be expanded to Northern Kenya.

Kanga said some of the resources had come from the state while some partners have also made donations.

He said that as part of the mitigation of the impacts of drought, KWS has started growing trees within the protected areas

“KWS has already begun planting trees in the Tsavo by developing enclosures. We have extended this to all our Parks across the country. Remember these trees are also food for wildlife," Dr Kanga said. 

"But remember our interest in not only planting but to grow the trees that constitute a habitat for wildlife. We look forward to undertaking massive tree planting as the rains come in March. We are aligned with the Presidential directive on tree growing.

“We estimate to grow more than two billion trees with communities around our national parks and stakeholders,” he said.