Wildlife conservationists have praised the use of technology, fencing, and community participation in the fight against poaching of endangered species.
The Cabinet secretary for the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Judi Wakhungu revealed in a wildlife census released last week that there has been an increase in the elephant population in the Laikipia-Samburu-Marsabit ecosystems by 12 per cent.
Some 7,347 elephants were counted in the census compared to 6,454 in 2012.
“Out of these, 7,166 and 181 elephants were counted in Laikipia-Samburu and Marsabit ecosystems compared to 6,365 and 89 elephants in 2012 respectively,” the report on the census reads.
The results indicated that there was an increase in the elephant population in the Laikipia-Samburu-Marsabit ecosystems by 12 per cent over the past five years, from 2012-2017, representing an annual increase of about 2 per cent over the period.
Adoption of the spatial monitoring and reporting tool, also known as Smart, a mobile phone-enabled application designed to help rangers and managers fight poaching by identifying hotpots, improving rapid response, and collection of intelligence data, according to conservationists, has helped the effort.
The open source and non-proprietary software system is majorly used in overseas countries to track the endangered elephants, lions, and cheetahs.
According to Samuel Mutisya, head of wildlife at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Laikipia, developing approaches to combating poaching and boosting survival rates, especially of endangered wildlife species, require massive collaboration.
International interventions
“Keeping wildlife safe from poachers has taken both local and international interventions, including involving the community in conservation and adopting the use of technology in monitoring some species, secluding some species facing extreme extinction, and fencing to avoid conflicts,” Mr Mutisya said.
Community participation is key, especially in offering indigenous knowledge of conservation, according to Moses Muthoki, Ol Pejeta's head of community development.
“Community awareness is key and involving people directly as well as making them benefit from part of the revenue, including scholarships and projects, helps a lot in co-existence as well as community intelligence that helps in curbing poaching activities,” Mr Muthoki said.
“This is one of the best technologies that helps wildlife conservationists come up with rapid response measures and even calculating the impact of anti-poaching efforts in making decisions,” said Amos Chege, a conservation official based in Loisaba Conservancy in Laikipia.
In partnership with non-State actors such as Zoological Society of London and Space for Giants, a wildlife conservation organisation that has been putting up fences to curb human-wildlife conflicts in four African countries including Kenya, Loisaba and other wildlife conservancies have adopted the use of satellite-linked GPS collars to track animals.
