Welcome to the first blog of the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT). This first posting will give a brief insight into the work of NRT and the community conservancies we represent; over time we will introduce you to each of these conservancies through updates and regular news from the field.
NRT is an umbrella organisation for community conservation in northern Kenya, which began operating in 2004 with a membership of 9 community conservancies. Today there are 15 member conservancies that collectively cover an area of over 5,000 km2 and represent an estimated 60,000 people. Community conservation in Kenya is gaining momentum as communities realize the benefits that conservation can bring through improved security, natural resource management and opportunities for economic development.
The communities we work with are predominantly nomadic or semi-nomadic pastoralists who depend on their livestock for all their livelihood needs. However, gradually the conservancies are providing employment, meaningful revenue and enterprise opportunities to these people. Pastoralism provides an opportunity for wildlife conservation which is all but lost in the rest of the country; creating space for wildlife at a landscape level without the confinement of fences or agriculture. The region NRT works in is historically insecure; ethnic conflict over meager resources is common-place, illegal firearms are widespread and the area has been largely neglected by economic development that has been felt elsewhere in the country. Insecurity in itself is a deterrent to economic development; one of the major roles of these conservancies is to improve security thereby creating an enabling environment for development including tourism. NRT’s role is to develop the capacity and self-sufficiency of these community conservancies to ensure their success and continuity in the long-term. NRT provides technical support in ecological monitoring, enterprise development, livestock marketing, rangeland management, security, project management and governance, community mobilization and infrastructure development. A crucial role of NRT is to link the conservancies to donors to ensure financial stability in the medium to long-term until the conservancies are able to become financially sustainable or self-supporting. This is a goal of all conservancies, however, in our experience it takes at least 10 years before conservancies can generate meaningful revenue through tourism and the donor community will always play a crucial role in supporting these conservancies. The community conservancies we are involved in include:
In our future blogs we will introduce you to each of these conservancies and provide regular updates of news and activities. Blogs will be written by Conservancy and NRT staff and researchers and we hope will give you a fresh, exciting look into the future of conservation in northern Kenya! Juliet King – NRT Research & Monitoring Coordinator
3 Comments posted on "5000 km2 of Conservancies."
F. J. PECHIR on November 14th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Wellcome to Wildlife Direct´s blogs! Your conservation work there in Kenya seems to be very interesting in its aproach to protect wildlife and other issues. I look forward to know more on your activities and archivements. Thank you for this information.
Juliet King on November 15th, 2007 at 3:50 am
Many thanks for your comment - first one on the NRT blog! Looking forward to sharing more of the work we do with you and other conservation enthusiasts
F. J. PECHIR on November 15th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Juliet, you are wellcome!! As you know Kenya, as the rest of Africa has many problems about wildlife conservation. People like you and your team is what now not only Africa, but the whole world need to save what is left of nature and wildlife. The conservation system that you propose has been proved a very good one in others regions of Africa and in other countries, so I see a very bright future for this project, your work, and for you as a conservationist. The natural world need every single effort that we can do, and people like you is an inspiration for everyone that works and like to protect wildlife! Thank you so much for that… Post a comment
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