Nakuprat Conservancy

Background

The new Nakuprat Conservancy forms part of a protected area mosaic in northern Kenya which is a vital habitat for many species, in particular the African elephant and the endangered Grevy's zebra. Its position alongside Shaba National Reserve and the Ewaso Ngiro River provides critical seasonal refuge and connectivity for wildlife. Nakuprat Conservancy links the National Reserves of Samburu, Shaba and Buffalo Springs with the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) community conservancies to the south and the Mathews Range to the north.

The NRT Council of Elders agreed to the formation of Nakuprat in May 2010, recognising its connectivity with Shaba and its important role in promoting conflict resolution and peace within the region. During a recent public meeting at Gotu, the community once again voiced their support of the conservancy. This support is of great importance because Gotu is currently a hub for poaching and stock theft and is considered by major conservation organisations to be a crucial area for intervention.

In February 2011, Prix Pictet Foundation made a very generous donation of $29,000 to Tusk Trust. These funds have been used to launch the formation of the Nakuprat-Gotu Community Wildlife Conservancy. The grant has been allocated to establishing a governance and organizational management structure and to cover overhead expenses including: general operating costs; security operations; community and finance meetings; and in depth training and awareness programmes for the Nakuprat communities.

Goals and Objectives

• Recruit, train and establish respective management and security teams drawn from the local communities;
• Reduce conflict and restore security between the neighboring communities of Samburu, Turkana and Borana through regular dialogue; reduce ethnic tension caused by the use of the Nakuprat area as livestock raiding corridor;
• Create awareness amongst the Nakuprat communities on the economic benefits of conservation;
• Establish a management presence within the Nakuprat Community and lay the groundwork for community cooperation with the reserve and other stakeholders;
• Establish governance and organisational management structures of the conservancy;
• Put in place mechanisms for fair distribution of overall benefits to the community i.e. jobs, bursaries, business investments and profit sharing;
• Establish a wildlife monitoring programme with links to NRT, KWS and other security forces and organisations; train scouts to carry out daily patrols and record their daily sightings, this information will be used to determine trends and help with management decisions;
• Lay ground work for the establishment of income generating activities including tourism ventures, women’s groups (micro-credit schemes) and livestock marketing;
• Creation of a grazing committee to mitigate environmental degradation and develop a sustainable grazing plan for livestock;
  • Establish a committee which will examine ways of alleviating human-wildlife conflicts and explore the need for the creation of a buffer zone and corridors between the community homesteads and conservation area.

Economic Development

The creation of the conservancy is based upon the need to align conservation imperatives with sustainable economic development for poor rural communities living on extremely marginal land. The process of developing a new conservancy naturally takes time and trust; however, the NRT’s proven track record in delivering economic and social benefits to a growing number of communities will greatly facilitate the process. Indeed, one of the first conservancies created and supported by Tusk over 10 years ago, is now generating some US$150,000 per annum in economic benefits to the Namunyak community – a sizeable amount that would have previously seemed impossible for them to gain from conservation enterprise. A percentage of these funds is raised through the eco-lodge Sarara that has been built in Namunyak and is owned by the community. Furthermore, as a direct result of the revenue generated by the conservancy, the community now enjoys greater physical security, improved schooling, water supply and healthcare.

So whilst it takes time to achieve the success of Namunyak and the other more mature conservancies, the communities that make up Nakuprat have now committed to embark on this same journey. Tusk is committed to providing the necessary seed money as a ‘leg up’ to allow the Nakuprat community to derive similar economic and conservation benefits.

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