Conservation

Kenya has more than 50 National Parks, reserves and sanctuaries covering some 4.4m hectares or 7.5% of the land area. Almost half of this area is accounted for by the two biggest National Parks, Tsavo East and Tsavo West. 

Kenya is party to several international agreements including Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species and Wetlands.

There are a large number of environmental issues including water pollution from urban and industrial wastes, degradation of water quality from increased use of pesticides and fertilizers, water hyacinth infestation in Lake Victoria, deforestation, soil erosion, desertification and poaching.

Nearly $US 1 million has been awarded by the United States Agency for International Development for ongoing conservation work at the Arabuko-Sokoke forest. See notes in ABC Bulletin, Volume 11, No.1, March 2004. This forest has been ranked second in importance for threatened bird species among African mainland forests and has been the subject of a long-term BirdLife International programme to conserve the forest and its wildlife whilst bringing increasing benefits to local people.

An award was made by ABC to the National Museums of Kenya Ornithology Department to assist a study of Chapin's Flycatcher Muscicapa lendu in Kakamega Forest. A further award was made for a study of the population size and density of Abbott's Starling Pholia femoralis in the Kikuyu Escarpment Forest Reserve.

A study has been carried out to determine the rate of papyrus swamp loss and the impact of habitat degradation on 5 specialist bird species. The most important papyrus swamps in Kenya are confined to the shores of Lake Victoria at Dunga, Koguta and Kusa. Despite being IBAs, none are protected formally. The abundance of White-winged Warbler Bradypterus carpalis, Carruthers's Cisticola Cisticola carruthersi, Papyrus Gonolek Laniarius mufumbiri and Papyrus Canary Serinus koliensis were found to be directly related to the height and density of papyrus. Too few Papyrus Yellow Warblers Chloropeta gracilirostris were found to be able to draw meaningful conclusions.

Conservation News

6th July 2007: Kenya adds birds to tourist attractions

The Tourism Trust Fund (TTF) has launched a Ksh19.7 million ($294,000) bird tourism project to market Kenya’s Important Bird Areas (IBAs). The project, to be implemented by Nature Kenya, will target three well-known IBAs — Dunga papyrus wetlands, Kinangop Plateau Grasslands, and Kakamega Forest. “All these areas are ripe for tourism development,” TTF chief executive officer, Dan Kagagi, said.

Dr Kagagi said the project will be achieved through a global marketing campaign, development of IBAs, development of a bird guides’ curriculum and training. 

“The global market and demand for avi-tourism are enormous. This product development and niche marketing of an under-exploited resource, will promote little known areas to a large and high value market of specialised tourists” said Dr Kagagi.

Kenya’s 60 IBAs are located in both well established tourist circuits and little visited areas of the country. The potential for revenue is vast. According to Bird International, Worldwide, there are about seven million birdwatchers going in birdwatching trips abroad per annum, spending over $7 billion in the countries they visit.

According to Nature Kenya, current visits by keen bird watchers are as low as only 250 per year. Increasing this number is obviously beneficial in revenue terms, but also in terms of visitor patterns.

Source: The East African

25th April 2007: Kenyans Plant Trees To Coax Back Flamingos

Five years ago, dead flamingos littered the drying shores of Lake Nakuru in Kenya's scenic Rift Valley. Sickly birds struggled to stand upright while stray dogs scavenged on the depleted flock. The once world-renowned heartland of the majestic birds with their long necks and striking pink, scarlet and black plumage was yet another depressing symbol of deforestation, pollution and global warming in Africa.

But now, after two years fighting to reverse their role in the damage, Nakuru's local community has set itself the task of replanting a whole forest they had razed as a measure of desperation in times of poverty. They hope that as the flamingos return, so will the tourists. "It was wrong to cut the trees but we had to. We burnt them all when we started farming," said Jane Macharia, who like so many others slashed the forest to make farmland when she came to Nakuru 10 years ago with no work or means to produce food.

"I needed land to survive," she explained, kneeling in the wet mud with a group committed to turning back the clock by planting saplings in the hills above the lake.

As the forests receded, the rains left too. Erosion from farming and the effects of global warming combined in the late 1990s to leave Lake Nakuru virtually uninhabitable for its famous birds. The flock of millions - drawing thousands of tourists to Nakuru each year - was reduced to 10,000 by 1996.

"After all the destruction of the forests, the rivers had no water and all the flamingos were dying," the senior warden at Lake Nakuru National Park, Charles Muthui, told Reuters, adding that some 800 hectares (2,000 acres) of forest had been degraded. Conservationists feared the birds would be wiped out completely. "Now is the time to make it right," Macharia said.

Her community knows full well the cost of their deforestation. Along with their lakes and flamingos, the numbers of American and European tourists who came each year dropped. The local economy took a battering. "The business of this region depends on visitors," the warden said. "Destroy the forests and you destroy Lake Nakuru. Then no flamingos, then no tourism -- we know about that."

Nakuru community groups have already planted some 3,000 trees since January alone, but they say it will take decades to fully reverse the harm already done by cutting the forests. Still, below the hills where locals toil between thick forest and open plains dotted with tree stumps, planting sapling after sapling, flamingos have begun returning in droves.

Source: Environmental News Network

7th December 2006: New report gives direction to IBA conservation in Kenya

A report from NatureKenya (BirdLife in Kenya) sheds new light on the changing challenges and pressures facing the conservation of Important Bird Areas (IBAs). Results from ‘Kenya’s Important Bird Areas: Status and Trends’ highlight in particular, the threat of overgrazing and illegal logging to the protection of IBAs in East Africa.

This is the first time that African IBAs have been monitored and the results have given a valuable insight into the issues that surround wildlife conservation in East Africa. Two threats of particular concern were found to be overgrazing and illegal grazing - both of which were deemed a serious threat to 57% (34 out of 60) of the IBAs in Kenya.

Illegal selective logging and vegetation destruction were also widespread issues – 55% of all IBA sites in Kenya highlighted the ‘serious threat’ that this had to site conservation. Of the 22 forest IBA sites in Kenya, 16 reported that tree logging and pole-cutting posed threats to IBAs. Another frequently cited threat was firewood collection; deemed a threat to 43% of IBAs.

“Many IBAs in Africa face similar threats, but our results hint that these threats are reversible,” said Paul Matiku, Executive Director, NatureKenya. “The state of our IBAs has not changed dramatically between 2004 and 2005. Indeed, in some cases, pressure may have reduced slightly; often a result of the hard work that NatureKenya and its Partners, particularly in the relevant government departments, have been putting on educating, monitoring and building local constituencies for conservation, in particular the Site Support Groups”

Source: BirdLife International

Last page update 7th January 2008