Environment Office Chief

COVID-19 and the associated drop in tourism have led to a decline in conservation funds across Africa. Kenya is no exception. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the hundreds of conservancies throughout Kenya are scrambling to keep rangers employed and wildlife safe. To create the new Rangers Welfare Fund, KWS auctioned naming rights for 33 rhino calves born in Kenya this year. The fund has raised KES 3.3 million so far. Read more about KWS's World Ranger Day celebrations and the new ranger fund by clicking below.

USAID works closely with KWS on biodiversity conservation and countering wildlife trafficking. On August 4, USAID Kenya and East Africa Mission Director Mark Meassick paid a courtesy call to KWS Director General Brig. J.M. Waweru to discuss, among other items, progress on its five-year strategic plan. The plan outlines action items for building institutional capacity and contributing to the well-being of Kenyans through wildlife conservation, job creation, and the preservation of natural ecosystems. USAID was the primary donor for its development.

Losas Lanamunyi is a commander of a rapid response ranger team for the Northern Rangelands Trust in Kenya. He works closely with community conservancy rangers, the Kenyan police, and the Kenya Wildlife Service to combat poaching, road banditry and livestock threat. He is attached to the team that covers the Sera Rhino Sanctuary - the first and the only community-run sanctuary in East Africa that provides a space for endangered black rhinos.

In this Northern Rangeland Trust profile, Losas tells his incredible story -- from participating in a livestock raiding mission that nearly cost him his life to becoming a top ranger that protects wildlife and raises awareness on the dangers of livestock raiding.

USAID supports NRT's community conservancy model that works with 39 conservancies in northern Kenya. These community-owned, locally-led, and locally-managed conservancies improve the lives and livelihoods of more than 400,000 residents from 18 different ethnic groups spread over ten counties in one of Kenya’s major wildlife migration corridors. Rangers like Losas are integral to strengthening the peace and security that conservancy governance supports. Read "Wildlife and Communities Gain: Transforming Approaches to Conservation in Kenya" to learn more about the impact that community conservancies are making in Kenya.

Big Life Foundation partners with communities in the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa to protect wildlife and wildlands for the benefit of all. Their local Maasai rangers are absolutely critical to their operations. Not only do they patrol vast areas of land, but they also liaise with communities to mitigate human wildlife conflict, chase wildlife off farms, build crop-protection fences, and keep water supplies safe from damage.

USAID supports Big Life Foundation and other community-driven conservation organizations to improve people's lives and to save and protect the iconic animals and landscapes of East Africa.

Big Life is currently conducting a fund drive to keep their rangers paid and in the field. Go here to learn more.

In 2016, USAID supported the development of a mobile application and cloud-based system, the Wildlife Information Landscape Database, or WILD, through a three-year participatory process. WILD is a locally developed, open-source app that supports the improved collection, sharing and analysis of biodiversity information and data, developed by Strathmore University’s iLabAfrica Centre.

Interested in learning more. Read Data Sharing Allows Rangers to Better Monitor Wildlife and How Smartphones are Helping to Save Kenya's Dwindling Elephant Population.

Click above to learn how to use the WILD app.