We support the creation and strengthening of community-owned conservancies by providing seed funding to facilitate the registration of appropriate legal entities, community engagement and setting up governance structures to ready the new conservancies for investment.
Nyekweri Kimintet Community Forest Conservation Trust
Nyekweri Kimintet forms part of the indigenous Nyekweri Forest, a famous home for the giant ground pangolin and African elephant, amongst numerous endemic wildlife species. Our partnership with the Conservancy through the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association aims to secure the forest from deforestation and illegal logging and secure habitat for critically endangered wildlife such as pangolins. We paid lease fees to the 29 landowners throughout the year.
Pardamat Conservation Area
Pardamat Conservation Area employs a unique dual-use approach, where people, their livestock, and wildlife coexist in the same area. The Conservancy’s success presents a new model for the Maasai Mara in the face of subdivision and privatisation of land. Our partnership with the Pardamat Conservation Area seeks to prevent further land subdivision and sale and, therefore, keep land under conservation intact within the lease period and protect wildlife and their habitat.
We continue to support the Conservancy due to its significance, especially in providing an essential connection for wildlife between the Maasai Mara National Game Reserve and other conservancies. Our support for the Conservancy includes capital and operational costs, including management salaries and related expenses, road maintenance, and lease fees for 329 landowners who signed 15-year lease agreements.
Kalama Community Wildlife Conservancy
Our partnership with Kalama Community Wildlife Conservancy aims to improve ecosystem health to benefit biodiversity, community, and carbon sequestration. We have worked with the Kalama to strengthen its capacity to run its operations. So far, we have worked with the Conservancy to address water scarcity and enhance the communication infrastructure.
Coastal Conservancies
Through a partnership with the Northern Rangelands Trust, we support Pate Marine Community Conservancy to enhance marine biodiversity conservation. So far, our support has covered partial support for the Conservancy’s rangers’ salaries, uniforms, acquisition of a patrol boat, and personnel training, thus contributing to enhanced conservancy management.
Another area of support is the training of 28 monitoring personnel from Ndera, Lower Tana, and Hanshak-Nyongoro Conservancies, including 24 rangers, three community research assistants, and a wildlife research and monitoring assistant on forest surveys and primate censuses to build internal capacity for routine monitoring.
Grasslands Restoration Techniques Study
We support an exciting project by the Centre for Ecosystem Restoration – Kenya, an organisation on a mission to reverse degradation and repair ecosystems through action-oriented research and evidence-based restoration with the people of Kenya. Specifically, we support a study on restoration techniques to revive degraded savanna grasslands in the Maasai Mara.
Mara Naboisho Landscape Restoration
We are working with Mara Naboisho Conservancy to address severe soil erosion and land degradation in parts of the Conservancy that resulted from various factors, especially overgrazing. In this regard, we support the Conservancy management to construct run-off walls within the erosion gullies to slow water flow and trap the soil using locally available materials.
Read MoreGiant Pangolin Protection
The giant ground pangolin is an endangered species due to habitat loss occasioned by human activities and poaching due to the medicinal value of its skin and scales. We contribute to efforts to save the giant pangolin by supporting The Pangolin Project, which protects the giant ground pangolin in Nyekweri and conserves and prevents further deforestation of pangolin habitat. The interventions to save the pangolin include removing fences to secure habitat and creating awareness amongst the local communities on protecting the endangered species.
Protecting Birds of Prey
Protecting birds of prey is necessary for healthy ecosystems. Raptors are in danger due to poisoning and habitat loss. We partner with the Kenya Bird of Prey Trust to support monitoring raptor nests to understand trends, poison awareness, and rapid response in instances of poisoning.
Wildlife Monitoring for Evidence-Based Decisions
We contribute to the enhancement of wildlife management through the adoption of technology. Notably, we are supporting the Mara Elephant Project, a leader in elephant protection, in implementing a monitoring tool called Ecoscope.
Read MoreConserving the Coastal-Rich Biodiversity
We support three Northern Rangelands Trust community conservancies—Kiunga, Pate, and Ndera—to protect and sustainably manage the critical coastal marine and terrestrial ecosystem for nature and livelihood by enhancing local communities’ biodiversity conservation and resource stewardship. Our support includes climate and conservation education and operational expenditure.
Our Funding Partners
Our work is made possible by the generous support of our funding partners.