Kenya announced a temporary suspension of all permits and licenses for development in key wildlife conservation areas in the country.
In an advisory letter by the chief of staff, and head of the public service, Felix Koskei; to various stakeholder ministries and key players in the wildlife conservation areas the government advises that priority should be given to implementing pending directives by the president in a past stakeholders meeting.
“In a meeting between H.E. the president and the wildlife conservation players, land management matters (ownership, adjudication, change of user) in Kenya were flagged out as some of the issues affecting sustainable wildlife conservation and management in the country.”
“Consequently, it was decided that to address the issues, the following presidential directives be implemented with immediate effect,” read part of the letter.
The directive prohibits the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) from issuing licenses and permits for various projects in wildlife conservation areas termed as key, especially in Kajiado, Machakos (Athi-Kapiti corridor), Narok, Laikipia, Taita Taveta and Baringo areas, until conservation policy is made.
The concerned parties are also required to implement the wildlife corridors and dispersal areas task force report-2016 with the Athi-Kapiti corridor as a high-priority area, further to that, land subdivision and change of land use in the mentioned areas has also been prohibited until the conservation policy is finalized.
The president also ordered the Ministry of Lands and physical planning to fast-track implementation of the Community Land Act 2016 and also a review of the National Land use policy and the Physical Land Use Act 2019, to include conservation as a land use category in the country and that all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) responsible for various issues identified form a multi-sectorial team, to formulate and implement the country’s conservation policy to be spear-headed by the State Department for Wildlife (SDW).
“The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to request you to take note of this presidential directives and update this office periodically on the progress made on the above assignments.”
Officials said the move will bring yields to conservationists and the country at large.
Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association (TTWCA) Chief Executive Officer Alfred Mwanake said that the directive is important as it helps conservation actors to organize themselves, organize the conservation space, and prioritize deliverables on their action plans into seeing how wildlife will be able to coexist with other nature-based enterprises and compatible developments.
“Research by WWF in 2022 cites that since the 1970s, an average of 69% of global wildlife have been lost, so, in order to compensate and particularly restore our pride, we need to stop developments which cant coexist with wildlife, because such lead to biodiversity loss,” Mwanake said.
Ms. Lucy Waruingi, the executive director-African Conservation Centre and Board Chair of the Conservation Alliance of Kenya (CAK); Kenya needed that kind of high-level approach because the country need time to stabilize its wildlife landscapes.
“This is a window in the history of Kenya to stabilize our wildlife landscapes and not lose the gains of the great conservation work that has been done across this country over the year,” she said.
The directive focuses on national land use policy, in this case with a focus on how conservation land can be developed sustainably for symbiotic relationships long into the future.
