• There is no data for some wildlife such as cheetahs, leopards, spotted hyenas and the endangered pangolins.
• Balala said the collected data will be verified by experts.
Image: Charlene Malwa.
The ongoing wildlife census will enable the government to make informed decisions on how to protect iconic species, Tourism and Wildlife CS Najib Balala has said.
He told the Star that the Sh250 million drive will enable the country to have refined data on wildlife and find out where they are.
"We have 35,000 elephants, 1,600 rhinos, 100,000 giraffes, 2,400 lions, 2,000 Grevy zebras, but we do not have data on cheetahs, leopards, spotted hyenas and the endangered pangolins," the CS said.
The National Wildlife Census covering both land and aquatic wildlife was launched on May 7. Balala presided over the official launch of the drive at Shimba Hills National Reserve in Kwale county.
The census is being carried out in conservation areas and key wildlife-rich counties.
The two-month exercise is fully funded by the government and will be executed by the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, the Kenya Wildlife Service and the newly created Wildlife Research and Training Institute.
Balala said the information generated during the census will support the implementation of government conservation and tourism policies and support tools for adaptive management.
The number and distribution of rare and threatened species listed in Schedule VI of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, 2013, requires regular monitoring using standard methods.
Balala said Kenya has never undertaken a national survey to establish wildlife status or their distribution in the country.
He said it was important to undertake this national survey to establish baseline data on wildlife population status and distribution for future use.
Balala said the collected data will be verified by experts.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Living Planet Report 2020 showed that the global population of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish has declined by two-thirds in less than 50 years.
This is largely due to the destruction of their habitats.
The report shows an average 68 per cent decrease in the population size of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish between 1970 and 2016.
Factors believed to increase the planet’s vulnerability to pandemics – including land use change and trade of wildlife – were some of the drivers behind the decline, the report says.
Wildlife populations found in freshwater habitats have suffered the greatest decline of 84 per cent - the starkest average population decline in any biome, equivalent to four per cent loss per year since 1970.
Edited by A.N