Bad land policies fueling human-wildlife conflicts in Kenya

What you need to know:
Over the years, the government has looked the other way as wildlife and forest land is hived off in ways that can only be described as land grabbing.

The human-wildlife conflict in Kenya continues to escalate by the day. The increasingly frequent clashes between humans and wild animals have caused many deaths.

The country had an exceptional abundance and diversity of wildlife, but as the human population increased, wildlife lost space to people, roads, buildings and agriculture.

The population explosion, which increases demand for settlement land, has resulted in direct contact between man and animals. Various salient points have led to this sad scenario. For years, wildlife conservation has seen large tracts of land remain free from human habitation due to policies that have strongly protected conservation, whether private or under the direct supervision of the Kenya Wildlife service.

There are also group ranches where livestock and wild animals have co-habited with little if any conflict. Best examples are in Maasailand. This is, however, nowadays not tenable because man has gone out to look for settlements. Group ranches and large wildlife habitats have been sub-divided into plots where human settlement has increased over the years.

Areas around Aberdare Forest and Mt Kenya, where daily conflicts between man and wildlife are now the norm, are good examples.

Hostility between conservancy owners and residents has gone a notch higher in private ranches, for instance in Laikipia County.

All in all, man has encroached animal sanctuaries with abandon.

Wild animals are being pushed further and further from their natural habitat and it is no wonder Kenyans will continue to hear occurrences of conflicts between man and animals on a daily basis.

We are in a catch-22 situation where a balance between wildlife conservation, which is almost a petrodollar earner for the country, and the settlement of the expanding population, has to be considered.

Over the years, the government has looked the other way as wildlife and forest land is hived off in ways that can only be described as land grabbing.

There is also the issue of Mau Forest, where settlers are said to have encroached on the land with the tacit approval of political leaders.

When the settlers were finally evicted, it became a stormy political and ethnic issue.

This is the case in almost all other areas where conflict between man and wildlife is ongoing.

Nairobi National Park, which makes the Nairobi metropolis unique in that it is the only city in the world with a natural national park, has been in the news in the recent past when residents of estates built next to its perimeter used to wake up to sights of Leopards, lions and other wild animals roaming the streets.  This is an indication of bad planning when it comes to land use.

There should be clear and strong policies in the country defining properly what constitutes wildlife conservancy and land meant for human settlements.

The Kenya wildlife Service has a tall order. The efforts it has put to ensure fences are erected to clearly demarcate wildlife land like in the Aberdare areas and Kinare Forest should be replicated in other places where human-wildlife conflicts occur.

Clearly defined and demarcated wildlife land will minimise the conflicts. Improvement of parks and animal sanctuaries like provision of permanent water solutions will also go a long way in addressing the crisis. Wild animals mostly invade human settlements in search of water especially during dry periods.

Mr Kigo is a retired environment officer.