• Nine Samburu conservancies will strengthen capacities.
• Northern Rangelands Trust conservancies improve livelihoods, build schools and health facilities, promote tourism and protect wildlife.
Image: COURTESY
Nine community conservancies in Samburu county on Friday were strenthened by an MoU with the Northern Rangelands Trust and the county government.
The five-year MoU emphasises collaboration and technical cooperation in community-led conservation.
The nine conservancies are Westgate, Sera, Kalama, Nkoteiya, Meibae, Namunyak and its three units - Ngilai, Naluwon and Kalepo.
The signing ceremony include the launch of the Samburu County Conservancies Fund Act, Kenya's first county conservancy fund.
The Nkoteiya Community Conservancy Eco-lodge was opened. It is funded by the county supported by the African Wildlife Foundation, the Kenya Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy, the Danish International Development Agency and USAID.
Samburu Governor Moses Lenolkulal said the MoU will strenngthen the partnership between the county, the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) and its member community conservancies.
He said the Samburu County Community Conservancies Fund Act 2019 will provide a legal framework and commitment to long-term support of conservancies.
The NRT is a community conservancy membership organisation that aims to develop resilient community conservancies to transform lives, secure peace and conserve natural resources.
NRT empowers communities to develop their own governance structures, run peace and security programmes, take the lead in natural resource management and manage sustainable businesses linked to conservation.
The NRT umbrella covers 39 community conservancies. They aim to improve livelihoods, manage rangelands, develop new regulations on establishing and managing community conservancies in Kenya.
Ten county governments actively support actively support community conservancies that also bring ethnic communities together.
“We have seen the fruits of the community conservancy model," Damvid Lekooet, NRT Council of Elders chairman, said. He is the board chairman of the Kalama Community Conservancy.
He said children are going to school, water access points and health centres have been built, tourism has employed indigenous community, women's enterprises such as Bead WORKS are generating income.
He said herders are selling cattle at a better profit, morans are getting technical skills and others have been employed as rangers.
Tom Lalampaa, NRT's chief executive officer, said, "We are tasked with conserving our natural habitats while safeguarding the livelihoods of our indigenous communities."
In 2019, 68,600 people benefited from 126 indigenous-led development projects through the Conservancy Livelihood Funds.
The number of elephants killed for ivory in NRT member conservances has dropped by 96 per cent since 2012.
In 2019, communities earned $1.3 million in tourism revenue.
The MoU will also support holistic community engagement in development and wildlife management, including monitoring, data management, human-wildlife conflict and wildlife scouting.
It will provide incentives to encourage indigenous communities to combat illegal wildlife trade and to benefit from wildlife conservation for economic gain.
(Edited by V. Graham)