NOTES FROM THE FIELD - SOME GOOD NEWS TO END THE YEAR
Greetings from Nairobi!
The year 2020 ended with some good news thanks to our hard-working partners. In Baringo County, Kenya, Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Ruko Community Wildlife Conservancy, and U.S. nonprofit Save Giraffes Now collaborated to transfer the first of eight endangered Rothchild giraffes from a sinking island. Read an excerpt from NRT's story below and make sure to click on the "Read more" link to view Amy Vitale's phenomenal photos that capture the logistics required to move a five-meter-tall giraffe from island to mainland.
In other giraffe news, NRT, KWS, and Save Giraffes Now joined Ishaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy to collar the world's only known white giraffe with GPS, an exercise deemed necessary after poachers killed two other white giraffes earlier this year. The collar will provide rangers with hourly updates on the giraffe's location to keep it safe from poachers.
Surveillance of endangered animals is just one component of what our partners are doing to keep wildlife safe. Keep reading to learn about educational efforts, toolkits, and partnerships to prevent and prosecute wildlife crime.
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Aurelia Micko
Environment Office Chief
USAID Kenya and East Africa
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CRITICALLY ENDANGERED ROTHSCHILD GIRAFFE RESCUED FROM 'DISAPPEARING' ISLAND |
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Aloise Naitirra, NRT's Baringo County Director:
"The exercise was a success, and we thank all partners who continue to support our noble cause through the community conservation model, a game changer in conservation not only in Kenya but also in the south of Africa."
Read more
www.nrt-kenya.org
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In an ambitious rescue effort, Kenya Wildlife Service and Ruko Community Conservancy have floated one Rothschild’s giraffe from Longicharo Island, on the eastern shores of Lake Baringo, to the mainland of the Conservancy, as rising lake levels threaten the giraffe’s future. The move was a partnership with the Northern Rangelands Trust and the US nonprofit Save Giraffes Now. Seven giraffe remain on the island. Two are due to be moved over the next few days, the rest in the coming months.
The giraffes were originally moved to Ruko in 2011, in a bid to reintroduce Rothschild’s giraffe, also known as the Baringo giraffe, back to their endemic range. Today, fewer than 3,000 Rothschild’s giraffes are left in Africa, with about 800 in Kenya. The giraffe came to epitomise the transformational impact of nurturing peace through the community conservation model, as the previously conflicting Il Chamus and Pokot communities came together under one community conservancy – Ruko - to protect them.
“The re-introduction of the Baringo giraffe in 2011 to the island has been very critical, we welcomed the efforts to allow the species to come back home where it belongs and be a catalyst in part of larger efforts of finding lasting peace between the two communities. We set aside our differences to protect this unique species, of which less than thousand remain in Kenya,” says Rebby Sebei, manager of Ruko Community Conservancy.
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WILDLIFE WARRIORS IS FILMING AGAIN |
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The Wildlife Warrior TV crew has started filming again. They have been busy traveling across Kenya the last few months and Season 2 will premiere in 2021. To find out when and where you can watch them, visit Wildlife Warriors TV page on Facebook an d YouTube.
Wildlife Warriors is a USAID-supported documentary series featuring African conservationists, such as the show host and WildlifeDirect CEO Paula Kahumbu.
The show has garnered an increasingly wider audience, helped by a partnership with Nigerian-based broadcaster Ebony Life. A rebroadcast of Wildlife Warriors season 1 reached an estimated 79 million viewers across Africa and the Caribbean. The show has also spurred educational offshoots such as the Wildlife Warriors Kids newsletter.
Wildlife education is an important component to preventing and combating wildlife crime.
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“I am certain that more Africans will become pro conservation after watching our series,” said Paula. “They say education is key, but it’s much more than that. Pride in our biodiversity and natural wealth is especially important now as our countries struggle to grow.”
- Paula Kahumbu, CEO Wildlife Direct
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Wildlife Warriors TV
Wildlife Warriors TV, Nairobi, Kenya. Wildlife Warriors takes its audience on a journey into the lives of local conservation heroes to find out what inspires them, and how...
Read more
www.facebook.com
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WildlifeDirect's mission is to connect people to their wildlife and nature and to inspire them to treasure it and act to conserve it. Find out more about WildlifeDirect here.
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KENYAN CONSERVATIONIST WINS TUSK AWARD |
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On December 3, Tusk Conservation Awards announced John Kamanga of Kenya as this year's winner for conservation in Africa. John is the founder and director of SORALO, an association of landowners from 16 Maasai communities living across several million hectares in Kenya. He empowers and equips communities to conserve wildlife. Read more about John Kamanga below.
The Tusk Conservation Awards celebrates Africa's Conservation leaders. HRH The Duke of Cambridge is Tusk's Royal Patron.
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John Kamanga, 2020
John Kamanga is a grassroots conservation leader who has dedicated his career to developing a vision for the co-existence of pastoralists and wildlife. His conservation philosophy draws on indigenous traditions, while incorporating modern...
Read more
www.tuskawards.com
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WORLD'S ONLY KNOWN WHITE GIRAFFE FITTED WITH A GPS TRACKING DEVICE |
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The white giraffe in Ishaqbini Community Conservancy, Kenya
A GPS unit was placed on one ossicone (horn) of the white male. The unit will give hourly updates of his location enabling rangers to monitor his movements and keep it safe from poachers. Photo: NRT
Read more
www.nrt-kenya.org
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KENYA WILDLIFE CONSERVANCIES ASSOCIATION WINS USAID RISE CHALLENGE |
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This project will address gender-based violence (GBV) and ensure more equitable access to and control of natural resources in conservancies in Kenya by advancing equitable norms. To facilitate transformation and gender equality, KWCA and its partners will adapt elements and tools of CARE International’s Social Analysis and Action model. The consortium will provide training and safe spaces for KWCA and selected conservancy staff to identify and challenge harmful gender norms, and to help conservancies promote safe, equitable, and inclusive decision-making. With RISE funding, KWCA will also update their gender strategy to address GBV and work with member conservancies to develop and roll out a safeguarding policy. Through these activities, this project will increase consciousness of unequal norms and encourage conservancy staff to adopt and maintain positive changes in gender relations.
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Project: Advancing Equitable Gender, Social and Power Norms in Community Conservancies
Country: Kenya
Period of Performance: January 2021 - March 2022
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NEW MICROSITE TO TACKLE TRANSNATIONAL WILDLIFE CRIME |
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East African prosecutors of wildlife crime have a new microsite to support their work. A microsite is an individual web page or a small cluster of pages which are meant to function as a discrete entity within an existing website. This microsite will promote cooperation between prosecutors across national boundaries to disrupt transnational smuggling networks and prosecute the related crimes. |
“This site is a new, dynamic tool that will improve regional and bilateral collaboration on the enforcement and prosecution of wildlife crime. USAID applauds the representatives of national prosecution offices in the East Africa region for their initiative in identifying the need for this website. We thank you for your commitment to using this microsite to fully realize its potential as a tool for both public engagement and strengthened collaboration on wildlife crime in the region.” |
-Heather Schildge, Deputy Mission Director for Technical Programs and Planning at USAID/Kenya and East Africa |
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New East Africa Association of Prosecutors microsite to...
The new microsite will promote cooperation on transnational wildlife crimes, data sharing, bilateral agreements, mutual legal assistance, updates and harmonization of relevant laws, procedures, and penalties and was developed with support from the...
Read more
www.traffic.org
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ENVIRONMENT NEWS AND OPINION ROUNDUP
(Articles and headlines are taken directly from the sources cited)
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Bringing together diverse stakeholders is never simple, and doing so during a global public health crisis presents additional challenges. However, for the USAID–funded Economics of Natural Capital in East Africa project (Natural Capital), identifying creative approaches to solve complex problems is standard procedure. The project is tasked with documenting and elevating the current and perceived value of natural capital to strengthen management of four conservation landscapes in East Africa. Source: Environmental Incentives. Read more.
It was a tall order: evacuate eight giraffes through crocodile-infested waters before their island was swallowed by rising floods. Rangers came up with a jerry-built barge but needed to test its riverworthiness, so three impalas, one ostrich and 11 warthogs were dragooned onto a dry run. It was a success.
There were great celebrations as the first giraffe, Asiwa, was floated across Lake Baringo, western Kenya, to a sanctuary on the mainland. Source: The Times. Read more.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, November 2020—The East Africa Association of Prosecutors (EAAP) have launched a regional microsite to support its members’ efforts in effectively prosecuting wildlife and related crimes during a virtual event hosted by TRAFFIC. Source: Traffic. Read more.
From July to October each year, millions of wildebeests, zebras and other wildlife travel from Tanzania to Kenya’s Maasai Mara region — a phenomenon known as “The Great Migration.”
But the animals are not usually the only ones that flood the region during this time: Typically, thousands of tourists flock to the Maasai Mara to catch a glimpse of this spectacle.
This year, however, the tourists have disappeared — along with the life-sustaining revenue they provide to wildlife conservancies dedicated to protecting this land. Source: Conservational International. Read more.
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USAID Kenya and East Africa Environment | www.usaid.gov/east-africa-regional/environment |
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