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| Credit: John Skorpio |
The difference between a national park and a conservancy in Kenya is that a national park is a vast area of land which is Government run, whereas conservancies are managed by individual landowners, a body or corporation, or a community, for the purposes of wildlife conservation and other compatible land uses. 65% of Kenya's wildlife live in community and private lands and these conservancies provide a vital connected landscape that complements the national parks and allows animals to migrate naturally from one area to another.
They place pastoralist communities at the centre of their activities, securing livelihoods - and at difficult times like this, life itself - at the same time as protecting the wildlife for future generations. It has been little talked about, but there is a massive drought in Northern Kenya and upwards into Ethiopia at present, with no real signs of an end. Pastoralist communities are one of the first sets of people to be badly affected by climate change.
I have to sit on my hands when I see public reaction in this country to adverts by Oxfam and other charities for donations. Revolting comments about 'breeding' aimed at a community that cannot afford an aspirin, never mind contraception, and forgetting that a pastoralist does a minor nth of the environmental damage caused by a person in the so-called developed world. The great thing about conservancies is that they are not about white saviours, but about hard-working communities helping each other.
Please watch this video: Loisaba Conservancy
