Climate, Environment and Biodiversity
Client: GIZ
Period: 05.2022-07.2023
Country: Kenya
Kenya’s tourism industry contributes 12% of the gross domestic product and 90% of funding for nature conservation, and the sector employs many young people of indigenous origin. Mara conservancies generate income from lease payments for the landowners and employ community scouts to monitor wildlife. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have lost their incomes. Mara conservancies could suffer total losses of EUR 2-10 million in the next two years and landowners could abandon the conservation-based form of land use. Therefore, the project will provide direct financial support to the conservancies and capacity building for state and nonstate actors, linked to a transformation to ensure that they can “build back better”.
The project aims at promoting a better link between wildlife conservation strategies and sustainable livestock use models by conservancy owners. It is also advising on the development and diversification of the conservancy business model to develop alternative sources of income for landowners and make the model more sustainable, gender-sensitive, as it will no longer rely exclusively on income from tourism. The capacities of the state’s partner institutions amongst which the Women’s Forum will be strengthened so that they can fulfil their mandate to support private and communal conservation areas, which are a key component of the national system of protected areas and reserves.
Direct beneficiaries are the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association (MMWCA), the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife (MoTW) as well as Kenya Wildlife Service (KES) and involved County Governments.
The consortium of AMBERO Consulting and NIRAS-IP Consult GmbH provides advisory, training and coaching services along the following key tasks: