Conserving Wildlife in African Landscapes: Kenya's Ewaso Ecosystem

Abstract

During the last two decades, conservation strategies in Africa have changed from an almost exclusive focus on large mammals in protected areas to an emphasis on conserving ecological processes at the level of entire landscapes and on the role of human communities. The papers assembled in this volume address diverse aspects of conserving the Ewaso landscape in northern Kenya, where concerted and prodigious efforts to conserve wildlife and natural resources have achieved substantial progress. Topics range from interpreting evidence for continuity and change in patterns of human settlement in the region to describing ecological interactions between wildlife, people, and livestock that are harmful or helpful; from the challenges of adapting livestock management in the presence of predators to legal mechanisms for conserving wildlife habitat on private land. In the final chapter, results of a strategic planning exercise are described for conserving essential elements in the entire landscape—the first of its kind in Kenya. Today, national policy and political will are still insufficiently aligned with this landscape conservation imperative to effect the changes that are necessary to conserve Kenya’s biodiversity. We hope this volume will help propagate awareness about the importance and threatened status of Kenya’s ecosystems and promote confidence that a policy can be crafted that will reverse their decline.