May 29 2008
KWS gives up Amboseli
For some reason this hasn’t hit the mainstream press, but according to the East African newspaper, the KWS have given up Amboseli National Park.This story goes back to 2005 when the president in his wisdom gave away the reserve to the local Maasai in what many believe was an attempt to buy support for constitutional referendum. They accepted the land which overlooks Mt Kilimanjaro, and voted against him anyway.
Local NGO’s Nature Kenyaand Eastern African Environmental Network took the government to court to squash the ministers decision to actually gazette the presidents declaration. The case is still in court. Despite this KWS have apparently given up and the newspaper claim that they have a copy of an agreement to that effect. It seems that the agreement puts KWS in a contracted position to manage the park on behalf of the council who can boot them out if they are not happy.
Why does this matter?
Amboseli is iconic of Kenyas’ wildlife protection and conservation success. It is one of the most important protected areas in Kenya - and the combined attraction of mountain and elephants generates more revenues than most of the others combined! It is where the elephants and lions have recently been speared. The local council is unlikely to have relevant competence to manage the site and Kenya may lose one of its greatest and most famous wildlife refuges.
It’s not surprising that the locals want the land, KWS has been raking in millions for years, with little to show for its contribution to the local communities. Nevertheless, this decision is likely to see the invasion of the park by pastoralists, the killing of elephant and lions and tourism is unlikely to recover.
I suspect that this is the beginning of something interesting, KWS releasing a stranglehold on parks and reserves especially where communities are ferocious (they are very averse to aggression). They will let go back down and take on managerial roles only - like the private sector. Can KWS survive this way? I’m curious - it is quite a bloated organization.
I wonder what would happen if we engaged more private sector interest in conservation directly (not just hotels) in Kenya that way Kenyans could invest in wildlife and nature protection and earn dividends.
……perhaps I”m dreaming again.
