Researchers have identified fragmentation of wildlife habitat as the biggest challenge threatening to wipe out iconic species.
The fragmentation is a result of the increase in human population over the years, which has resulted in demand for more land for settlement and crop farming.
In addition, infrastructural development such as roads, railway lines and oil pipelines has also contributed to the fragmentation.
Human settlements, farms, roads, railway lines, and pipelines are now occupying land that was initially utilised by wildlife.
The National Wildlife Strategy 2030 documented evidence showing a 68 per cent loss of wildlife populations in savanna ecosystems between 1977-2016; a 40 per cent decline in freshwater wetland ecosystems.
The strategy also shows a 7.4 per cent loss of forest cover between 1990 and 2014; a nine per cent decline in insect pollinators; a 74 per cent loss of coral reefs by 1999; and a 90 per cent decrease in Mt Kenya snow cap cover due to climate change.
These changes have implications for wildlife-habitat-human interactions under the fragmented landscapes of Kenya’s protected areas system.
This loss of wildlife resources and habitats is jeopardising human well-being and sustainable development.
This is demonstrated through increased instances of human-wildlife conflicts, poaching, illegal wildlife trade and diminishing food security.
It is for this reason that the researchers have identified seven thematic research programmes through a national wildlife research programme agenda launched on Monday.
The programmes are intended to provide scientific, evidence-based information to support decision-making while addressing today’s wildlife conservation and management challenges.
Some of the challenges include loss, fragmentation and degradation of wildlife habitats; over-harvesting and overutilisation of wildlife resources.
Others are loss of critical wildlife species; competition for water and land resources; wildlife diseases; introduction and establishment of invasive species; human-wildlife conflicts; poaching; illegal wildlife trade; and climate change.
The seven thematic research programmes identified in the research agenda 2023-2027 include wildlife species population dynamics, wildlife-habitat dynamics, wildlife health, genetics, and forensics.
Others are natural resource governance, human-wildlife interactions and socio-economics, bio prospecting, climate change and wildlife resource information management.
Speaking at the Naivasha-based Wildlife Research and Training Institute, Tourism CS Peninah Malonza said wildlife research has not been given priority since early 1946 when the Nairobi National Park was established.
“The national wildlife research agenda 2023-27 intends to provide scientific, evidence-based information to support wildlife conservation and management decision-making and policy formulation while addressing present and emerging wildlife conservation and management challenges in Kenya,” Malonza said.
WRTI director Dr Patrick Omondi, institute’s interim chairperson Winnie Kiiru, WRTI chairperson board of research and innovation committee Dickson Kaelo, Kenya Wildlife Service acting DG Dr Erustus Kanga and KWS Board chairman Walter Koipaton were present.
Malonza said wildlife resources are crucial as they contribute to the maintenance of ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, woodlands, aquatic ecosystems, terrestrial landscapes and seascapes.
“Wildlife plays a key role in regulating natural processes and delivers goods and services essential to support life on earth and human well-being,” the CS said.
Malonza said wildlife plays key roles in supporting national food security, providing employment and income-generating opportunities, and supporting the physical, spiritual and cultural well-being of people.
She said enhancing scientific knowledge and understanding of Kenya’s wildlife resources, habitats and human interactions are crucial.
Malonza said research is crucial in supporting the sound conservation and management of wildlife species to sustain their populations and habitats while taking into account the socio-economic needs of human populations.
She said there are more than 7,000 species in Kenya, making the country unique.
The research programme agenda will use a multi-disciplinary approach by combining data from wildlife species, habitats and human dimension using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Environment System (GIS) environment to understand the wildlife-habitats-human interactions in a fragmented landscape.
Aspects of biotechnology and nature-based enterprises will be considered.
It will also ensure the integration of cross-cutting issues related to socioeconomics, policy frameworks and climate change. This will be undertaken at the protected area level, ecosystems, landscapes and seascapes within our national jurisdiction and at the transboundary level.
The programme will be implemented through strategic partnership and stakeholder collaboration, including citizen science, to ensure proper stewardship, science-based decision-making, and adaptive management in the wildlife sector.
Omondi said the institute has deployed internal resources and external partner support to undertake 16 research projects.
The projects include the assessment of the impacts of fire in Aberdare National Park; the development of the recovery plan for the sable antelopes and ongoing sable antelopes census at Shimba Hills National Reserve, he said.
Others are the lion census at the Tsavo Conservation Area and the hippo census in Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivasha.
Other projects include ecological monitoring of carrying capacity in Ruma National Park, investigation of competent vectors for filaria worms in rhino sanctuaries and marine megafauna aerial census along the Kenyan coast.
Omondi said researchers have also authored or co-authored more than 35 scientific publications since 2021.
WRTI is set to host the first Wildlife Scientific Conference from September 26 to 28.
The conference will draw wildlife researchers and policy experts from government, non-governmental agencies, and academia to present current research and define the roadmap to address the challenges facing the conservation of the wildlife resources.
The national wildlife research agenda says the rapid population growth has exerted pressure on freshwater resources for domestic, industrial and agricultural use.
This has subsequently led to low environmental flows compromising the ecological integrity of these water systems.
Anthropogenic and climate-induced factors have also resulted in the declining status of wildlife in coastal and marine ecosystems found along the Kenyan coastal strip.
In addition, insufficient implementation of land use and ecosystem conservation plans have also resulted in immense land degradation, the proliferation of invasive plant species, pollution and siltation of water resources and overall loss of suitable wildlife habitats.
This has seen wildlife species lose their former range, corridors and migratory routes and dispersal areas.
