UNDP and First Lady join forces against elephant killings

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, the Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Ms. Helen Clark display the signed  partnership  agreement on wildlife conservation and anti-poaching in Kenya as  Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Water `and Natural Resources Prof. Judy Wakhungu applauds during a luncheon hosted by the First Lady at State House, Nairobi.

Nairobi, Kenya: Combating poaching will not succeed unless communities are empowered to help prevent its alarming upsurge, said the first lady Margaret Kenyatta and the Administrator of the UN Development Programme, Helen Clark while launching a new conservancy programme in Amboseli.

“This horrific phenomenon must stop. It is depleting our natural heritage, destroying lives and incomes, and fuelling corruption and insecurity”, said Ms. Kenyatta at the launch of the programme.

Wildlife attracts over one million tourists per year, generates over 12 percent of the national revenue, and directly employs over 230,000 Kenyans. Estimates put the value of a live elephant in Kenya at over USD 1 million per animal given its estimated life span and the services it renders the wildlife tourism industry.

In Kenya and the rest of the African continent, the current poaching crisis is threatening to make a disastrous impact on livelihoods, poverty rates and opportunities for sustainable development.

The scheme will create new livelihoods for communities living on the outskirts of Amboseli, an 8,000 kilometre-square natural reserve spanning the border between Kenya and Tanzania. By investing in sustainable farming, eco-tourism, and conservancy, the programme is expected to provide people with an alternative to killing wild animals.

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“Poaching pushes vulnerable and endangered species toward extinction, fuels corruption and conflict, destroys lives, and deepens poverty and inequality,” said Helen Clark. “We must all work together to stop this trade.”

In addition to creating new sources of revenue, the programme will give local communities, through the creation of village councils, the authority and capacity to plan and manage the use of their own land.

The scheme will also aim to create better processes for information-sharing between communities, park rangers and national authorities, while raising awareness of the impact of poaching in affected areas. The Government of Kenya has accelerated its efforts to control poaching, increasing surveillance and passing a law making it easier to convict those responsible.