Conservation of wildlife key to economic, GDP growth

Wildlife-based tourism contributes nearly 14 per cent to Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product. Consequently, one in every 10 Kenyans in formal employment works in the wildlife tourism sector. Indeed, lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos and all our famous wildlife, are the most unsung heroes of our economy. It is therefore heartening news that most of our wildlife is increasing, not decreasing. Four days ago, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) released results of a census they carried out in some of our national parks, national reserves and conservancies.

A total of 12,843 elephants were counted in the Tsavo ecosystem. This represented an increase of 14.7 per cent over the last three years from 2014 to 2017. Buffaloes in the same ecosystem also increased by 46 per cent from 5,912 in 2014 to 8,623 this year. This upward population growth was similarly experienced in Maasai Mara National Reserve, Mara triangle, conservancies and wildlife dispersal areas. Despite the poaching threat, elephants in this areas almost doubled, increasing by 72.2 per cent over three years from 2014 to 2017. Equally, the buffalo population grew from 7,542 to 9,466 over the same three-year period.