KWS is responsible for the conservation and management of wildlife resources
outside protected areas in collaboration with the stakeholders. The community
wildlife service was established in 1992 with support from USAID funding. The
community wildlife program will remain a national program with specific focal
areas receiving USAID funding support.
It is our goal to work
with others to conserve, protect and sustainably manage wildlife resources
outside protected areas for the benefit of the people. The community wildlife
program of KWS in collaboration with others encourages biodiversity
conservation by communities living on land essential to wildlife, such as
wildlife corridors and dispersal lands outside parks and reserves. The premise
is that "if people benefit from wildlife and other natural resources, then they
will take care of these resources, using them sustainably".
- Facilitating, advising, supervising and regulating wildlife
conservation and management outside protected areas.
appropriate infrastructure and systems that ensure efficiency and effectiveness
in wildlife conservation management in collaboration with other stakeholders.
- Forging partnerships with organic CBOs, wildlife forums and other
- Formulating of
policy for community involvement in Natural Resource Management.
- Directing of this policy outside protected areas.
of meaningful partnerships among stakeholders in wildlife conservation.
- Ensuring that encroachment and sub-division of land is reduced through
human-wildlife conflict resolution measures
- Promoting creation of
- Creation of wildlife conservation incentives
through wildlife utilization.
- Grassroots community mobilization for
- Improving the management of wildlife outside
protected areas through monitoring and evaluation for decision making and
involving the communities.
- Enabling partners to participate in
wildlife conservation through information sharing and
As the legislated guardian of wildlife in Kenya, KWS takes a key role in the
implementation of the community wildlife program. CWS provides the
institutional capacity through its extensive and experienced workforce
implementing conservation activities around Kenya’s protected areas.
The following are
major activities that are undertaken by CWS towards sustainable NRM.
Wildlife utilization (more information on this item can be downloaded from
the wildlife utilization guidelines)
- Human-wildlife conflict
- Community development through mobilization and education
- Compensation from wildlife damage
- Human Wildlife Conflict
One of the key functions of KWS is to manage the
human wildlife conflicts wherever wildlife coexists with people. Wildlife
species involved in impacting on people’s livelihoods include elephants, lions,
leopards and baboons. To reduce the human-wildlife conflict, KWS through the
community wildlife program has erected electric fences, live barriers and moats
to ease the problem. Animal drives and translocation of problem animals is also
done. It costs a lot of money to put up electric fences
depending on the type of terrain. For example the fence in Tsavo East National
Park cost Kshs. 738,000.00 per Km, Mwea cost Kshs. 1,368,000.00, Kimana
698,025.00 Shimba Hills National Reserve Kshs. 2,779,000.00 and Aberdare
National Park Kshs. 2,550.000.00. An additional Kshs. 50,000 (fifty thousand)
to maintain one Km annually. So far, the 1000 Kilometers of fencing within KWS-
management requires a figure of 50,000,000.00 annually for maintenance.
Additionally, 1000 kilometers will be required in the next five years. KWS does
not have enough resources for this activity and relies on donor support. The
communities that live in these areas barely eke a living and cannot therefore
afford to chip into the maintenance. This is a burden KWS will shoulder in
pursuit of its conservation objectives.
Overall, KWS allocates a
staggering Kshs. 200M annually for its community wildlife stations for the
purposes of managing and in protecting people and their property against
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Community Mobilization and Education
KWS has established dialogue with communities coexisting with
wildlife in order to reorient attitudes and commitments towards wildlife
conservation and management for socio-economical benefits. Since the
establishment of the community wildlife service program in 1992, KWS has
endeavored to enforce sustainable wildlife conservation and management outside
protected areas through community participation and partnerships.
Due to global changes in the natural resource management, KWS has realized the
need to share some wildlife management responsibilities with competent local
authorities. Our activities will thus focus on the process of empowerment of
CBOs and competent authorities towards the eventual devolution of some NRM
responsibilities. This will involve support for development of sustainable
land-use policies, formation of well structured wildlife committees for problem
animal controls, fence maintenance and testing and implementation of innovative
wildlife barriers, training and capacity building for community members to
handle these responsibilities. Support for the establishment of community
wildlife based enterprises especially community wildlife sanctuaries managed by
the local people will also be a major activity. Eventually KWS would wish to
see active community participation in sustainable wildlife conservation through
partnership and assistance by all stakeholders. Mobilization and education is
continuos process that every KWS member of staff needs to undertake in order to
offload some responsibilities.
Compensation from wildlife
Compensation in wildlife management terms is
payment of damages caused by wildlife to human beings. This according to
section 62 of wildlife (conservation and management) Act, which was amended in
1989 through bill No. 16 which stipulates that only loss of human life/injury
of limbs to human can be compensated and no loss of properties can be
The claimant/next of kin of the deceased must fill
in a compensation claim form "B" which is usually availed immediately the
person is injured. The form is passed on to the District Warden of the area who
presents it to District Wildlife compensation committee who recommends for the
compensation of the victims. Compensation is based on workman’s compensation
and that is for a person killed by wildlife is usually compensated with funds
voted from central treasury which is usually Kshs. 30,000.00. Those who are
injured are compensated depending on recommendation by the ministry responsible
for wildlife compensation committee at an average of Kshs. 15,000.00.
After the deliberations of compensation at District level, compensation
forms are sent to the office of the Director for scrutiny and onward transmission to the
ministry’s headquarters where approval of payment is obtained by using funds
voted for by Central Government.
Since March 2002, cheques are
prepared from KWS and sent to the District Commissioners of various Districts
through District Wardens in order that claimants’ of the injuries or next of
the kin of the deceased are compensated. Samples of the relevant forms to be
completed for the claimant are herewith attached.
Through donor funding, KWS has put up
electric fences. The major challenge is to maintain these fences and get the
communities to participate and see the importance of maintaining them. Some of
the resolutions to resolve these challenges include: Getting farm owners to
erect innovative barriers using Mauritius thorn, kieapple-Narok, and Laikipia.
- Forming management of human-wildlife conflict committees
- Convincing community members to participate in fence maintenance –
Shimba Hills, Amboseli ecosystem and Laikipia.
- Soliciting for donor
funding towards erection of wildlife barriers since the human-wildlife conflict
is still a big issue where there are no barriers between people, crops and
- Mobilization and awareness creation for benefits
from involvement in sustainable NRM. Most of the communities coexisting with
wildlife are now mobilized and have realized that there are benefits to be
realized from sustainable wildlife conservation. Our challenge is to meet these
expectations and fulfill them. KWS is trying to do this through:
- Devolution of wildlife management responsibilities and activities e.g.
human-wildlife conflict to organized CBOs.
- Decentralization of KWS
functions like issuing of game bird management licenses, conducting of game
census from the headquarters to the field stations.
- Loss of animal
habitats outside protected areas.
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