Conservation and Management Strategy for the Elephant in Kenya

CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ELEPHANT IN KENYA 59
3.3.7 Coordination and Support
[ BELOW ] Plate 39.
KWS veterinary team taking tissue samples
during a collaring exercise - Charles Ooro,
Kenya Wildlife Service
Implement an effective
coordination framework
to support stakeholders
and enhance decision
making and action.
Rationale and considerations
The conservation and management of wildlife in Kenya is vested in KWS, a parastatal organisation under the Ministry
of Forestry and Wildlife. It is charged with the implementation of the Wildlife Policy (1975) and the Wildlife Act
(revised in 1989) and general planning and management of wildlife in Kenya. KWS will therefore be responsible for
the implementation and monitoring of this Elephant Conservation and Management Strategy. However, a wide
range of stakeholders have interest in, and resources available for, elephant conservation and management in Kenya.
Thus, to achieve the overall goals of this strategy, all stakeholders (private sector, NGO partners, donors, relevant
county councils and communities) will be required to work together under a well-coordinated and managed system.
With the KWS Strategic Plan 2005–2010, considerable authority has been devolved to Area Managers. This is an
important step forward in improving action at the local level, but emphasises the need for coordination at the
national level. In addition, several key elephant population ranges straddle the boundaries of different KWS
Conservation Areas, so managers of adjacent areas must have coordinated approaches. An extension of this point
is the fact that a number of elephant population ranges also cross international boundaries, primarily with Tanzania
and to a lesser extent with Uganda, Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia. Therefore, coordination of policies and strategies
is needed. Where harmonisation is not possible, the agreement of boundary ‘buffer zones’ is important in the
management of elephant range, and in elephant protection and anti-poaching activities, including discussion and
joint international action on issues of ivory trade and trafficking. It would be useful to consider enlisting the support
of conflict-resolution specialists to assist with negotiations, where disagreement may occur over subjects such as the
ivory trade.
The coordination framework must therefore be carefully considered so that it will be effective, efficient and inclusive
(Figure 17). The strategy requires buy-in from all concerned, but it will be the activities that will determine its success.
Drivers for the practical aspects of the strategy are the ones that need to be well established and sustained. The
committees shall only be as large as necessary to achieve the purpose, shall only meet as required and shall be
focused on action. Much of the coordination shall be done through a strong network, with regular communication.
Sufficient resources need to be applied to the coordination process to ensure it works effectively and capacity also
needs to be sufficient to function at a National level.