What’s next for conservation this year?
While the world still grapples with continuing effects of Covid-19, the ‘green’ sector has not been left out.
And with the new year, various issues will dominate to ensure not only are the challenges resolved, but also that stakeholders see new opportunities in their sectors.
For staterts, since so much of the conservation industry is tied to tourism, disruptions caused by the pandemic resulted in uncertainties and job losses across conservation areas making some seek alternative sources of income.
“This experience has exposed flaws in some conservation funding models currently used across the country and highlighted the need for diversified and resilient income generating models,” says David Kimiti, Deputy Director Research and Impact, the Grevy Zebra Trust.
Failed rains
Drought is another issue that the country will continue to grapple with in 2022.
After many months with no rain, many communities in northern Kenya are facing harsh life coupled with life-threatening hunger and competition with wild animals for resources such as water and pastures.
“The March to May rainy season was a failure in most of Northern Kenya, with only sporadic showers in certain areas.
The inter-rainy season showers that usually happen between July and August also did not materialise.
The short rains expected in October did not materialise until late November, and even then were erratically distributed in space and time.
By then drought had been declared a national disaster, but without much emergency intervention visible on the ground.
Livestock and wildlife died due to starvation, thirst, or disease, their bodies too weak to fight off pathogens.
Many conservation organisations dealing with critically endangered species such as rhinos and Grevys zebra had to step in with supplementary feeding programmes.
If the March to May rains in 2022 also fail, then things are likely to go from bad to much worse,” explains David.
With the drought comes human wildlife conflict as there comes the inevitable conflict over resources.
“Human wildlife conflict was, especially bad in areas where agricultural and urban lands border protected areas.
We saw elephants strolling in Isiolo town and shambas in Meru raided. Zebras and other animals were shot at in pastoral communities for reasons unclear,” continues David.
The conflicts manifested in the loss of human lives and stolen livestock. This conflict issue in Northern Kenya is cultural as much as it is ecological, and serious political effort needs to be directed towards finding a sustainable solution. Should it rain, David forsees it being a post drought ecological recovery.
“If it doesn’t, then National Drought Relief programmes need a lot more funding than is being provided by both national and county governments.
If food security really is a pillar of this government then livestock production systems in pastoral communities need to be invested in,” he adds.
As this is the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, David says Kenya’s rangelands need massive investment into restoring ecosystem structure and function.
Single-use plastic
“Focus has to also be put into incorporating social programmes into restoration planning since in these areas the issues are socio-cultural just as much as they are ecological.
Incorporating local communities into restoration planning and management, and providing the security and inter-community dialogue necessary to sustain any outcomes will be critical.
County and national governments should already have been dedicating obscene amounts of funding towards this,” he says.
Other great breaks in the industry have been the creation of the new Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI) in Naivasha, which now focuses more on wildlife research in Kenya.
In addition, the KWS/ WRTI finally released the National Recovery and Action plan for Lions and spotted hyena in Kenya (2020-2030).
This document guides management and research for the aforementioned species for the next 10 years.
“I think the next wave is going more on using robust scientific methods to estimate carnivore numbers for example the use of Spatially explicit capture, which Mara Preditor Conservation Programme (MPCP) started, and KWS adopted for the National lion survey.
It is now being adapted in Tanzania and South Africa in estimating their carnivore numbers and densities,” says Kasaine Sankan, a Senior programme researcher with MPCP.
While he fears that 2022 is an election year, Kasaine hopes matters affecting tourism and conservation will still be on top of agenda of the government.
For James Wakibia an environmental activist, plastic pollution and the impact it has in the environment will still be a key item this year.
“Despite the ban on single-use plastic bags in 2017, I still feel we are yet to make any positive headway in addressing this scourge.
We must ensure solid waste management is given priority in terms of investment in modern infrastructure.
We also need waste sorted at source so that more waste is put in circular economy and less goes to the environment.
The government needs to strengthen enforcement of the existing ban to 90 per cent compliance, something it is failing in,” he notes.
James adds that since plastic has penetrated in every sphere, it is vital that the government spares no effort and resource in ensuring the war on plastic pollution is won.
“I feel this year plastic pollution will still be an environment concern of big magnitude than any other because the production of single-use plastics which are hardest to recycle and whose contribution to environmental degradation is on the rise,” he adds.
He urges plastic industries to design better products with lower environmental impact if not zero.
“The government should enact more pro-environment laws like extended producer responsibility that will put pressure on the industry to be mindful of the end of life of their products and finally to consumers to be more conscious of their environment, to protect it jealously and to always use less plastic, because less plastic is fantastic,” he insists.
Carolyn Kibii, a sustainability expert feels that the major issues right now are on biodiversity, ecosystem restoration, plastic pollution, blue economy(oceans/seas) and energy transition.
There are also new trends on plastic pollutions and several policies are being proposed including a globally binding policy.
Ecosystem restoration
“Biodiversity, ecosystem restoration and food systems and agriculture are mega topics as were laid out during COP26. Several funds were directed towards them.
From private companies, the likes of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and the EU dedicated a long list of funds for restoration.
UN food systems launched officially this year is gaining momentum,” she notes.
She adds that ultimately, the blanket idea of climate change is being deemed now and is being tackled from specific angles such as what amount of Carnom dioxide will energy transition sequester, how much carbon will be absorbed by trees, how much greenhouse gases do the plastic industry generate and what will circular economy do.
“There is also ecosystem restoration which will be another major issue this year. It is about landscapes and more on land-use practices.
Any activity taking place on land in one way degrades the environment, restoring which could take several forms such as growing trees, grasses, conservation agriculture, forest conservation, terracing, etc.
Ecosystem restoration incorporates science, research and actual activities,” she observes.
Carolyn also foresees energy transition both in developed and developed nations though at different scales.
“The EU and UK for instance have stopped production of gasoline vehicles by 2022 and 2025 and sale of gasoline vehicles in UK stops in 2030.
To reinforce this, a lot of funds are going into smart mobility technologies. There will also be a UN Biodiversity Conference taking place in May 2022 in China,” she says.
