Where We Work:

Kenya

Despite government efforts to improve natural resource management, Kenya is losing biodiversity and seeing an increase in unsustainable land use. We work with partners at all levels, from local to national, to advance biodiversity conservation and improve the well-being of communities.

Our multi-faceted approach includes working with wildlife authorities to:

  • strengthen eco-monitoring and data collection
  • support land-use planning and other activities that reduce human-wildlife conflict
  • bolster counter-trafficking efforts, including anti-poaching rapid response

Our current landscape-level efforts in Kenya are concentrated in the Tsavo-Mkomazi Landscape, one of Africa’s largest continuous wildlife areas and home to more than a third of Kenya’s elephants. Our policy engagement takes place at the county and national level.

Kenya Tsavo-Mkomazi
Priority Landscapes

AWF in Action

Countering habitat degradation

The demand for firewood, agricultural land, and pasture for livestock threatens biodiversity in the unique cross-border Tsavo-Mkomazi landscape, which includes densely forested hills and rangelands. We deploy many different strategies, including working with community conservancies and group ranches to restore forests and rangelands that are home to elephants, lions, buffalo, leopards, wild dogs, and other species.

Read about our strategies
Tsavo landscape

Expanding community conservancies in Kenya

We pioneered the community conservancy model in East Africa and have continued to support community conservancies across our landscapes. In Kenya, we helped to establish the LUMO Conservancy, which provided a model for two ranches to become certified to operate as conservancies.

Learn more about conservancies
Elephant

Human-Wildlife Conflict

When wildlife wander into human spaces, they can threaten crops, livestock, and people’s lives. In response to these threats, we deploy a holistic approach to human-wildlife conflict management based on local conditions. We work closely with communities, scientists, and wildlife authorities to provide resources and tools that monitor, predict, prevent, and mitigate unwanted encounters between wildlife and people. 

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Implementing a holistic giraffe conservation strategy

Long-term giraffe conservation requires working in large landscapes that span many different kinds of land use. One such landscape is the Tsavo-Mkomazi transboundary area, which straddles Kenya and Tanzania. In one of the Maasai giraffe’s last strongholds, we are implementing a science-based conservation action plan to support giraffe populations and benefit communities.

Learn more about threats to giraffes
Giraffes

Taking our expertise to the courts

We work with Kenyan government partners to help ensure wildlife crime is appropriately prosecuted. Our efforts include an innovative court-monitoring program in the Tsavo landscape, in which we provide logistical and technical support to often overburdened prosecutors, preventing wildlife cases from slipping through the cracks.

Learn more about court monitoring
Prosecutorial training

We work with the people of Kenya for wildlife. Our strategic, implementing, and funding partners include:

Amaka Ranch

County Government of Taita Taveta

International Fund for Animal Welfare

Kasigau Ranch

Kenya Climate Innovation Centre

Kenya Forest Service

Kenya Judiciary

Kenya Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, and Forestry

Kenya Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife

Kenya Wildlife Service

Lumo Conservancy

Mazido International

Mgeno

Nairobi University

Nature Kenya

Pan African Climate Justice Alliance

Save The Elephants

Taita Hills Sanctuary

Taita Ranch

Taita Taveta University

Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association

TUI Care Foundation

U.S. State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs

UK PACT

University of Wyoming

Water Resource Authority

Water Resource Users Associations

Wildlife Research and Training Institute

World Agroforestry Centre

WWF Kenya

Wildlife We Are Protecting

By the Numbers

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1,374,700 Number of hectares protected and/or with improved conservation status due to AWF interventions beginning in 2016

person

264,854 Number of people benefiting from AWF's conservation efforts

Elephant

7 of 8 Wildlife populations supported by AWF that are stable/increasing

Kaddu Sebunya

Contact

Kaddu Sebunya

Chief Executive Officer