Resilient Community Conservancies

43

Member conservancies

63,000

Square kilometres

19

Ethnic groups

Grassroots conservation aimed at enhancing people’s lives, building peace and conserving the natural environment.

The Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) is a membership organisation owned and led by the 43 community conservancies it serves in Kenya (northern and coastal regions) and Uganda. NRT was established as a shared resource to help build and develop community conservancies, which are best positioned to enhance people’s lives, build peace and conserve the natural environment.

Transforming Lives

1,366

People permanently employed in
NRT and the conservancies

88,538

People benefiting from 181 conservancy-funded development projects since the inception of the Conservancy Livelihood Fund (CLF) in 2015

1,195

Indigenous leaders in community conservancies have completed NRT’s bespoke Leadership and Management Programme since its inception in 2016

NRT serves its member conservancies. These are local institutions run for and by indigenous people to support the management of community-owned land for the benefit of improving livelihoods. As institutions, community conservancies not only give people a voice, but provide a platform for developing sustainable enterprise and livelihoods either directly or indirectly related to conservation.

Building Peace

1,033

Conservancy scouts

7

Wildlife response teams

125

Youth, women and elders now acting as peace ambassadors

Northern Kenya is a very different landscape now to the one it was ten years ago. Community conservancies are changing the narrative - a region once infamous for conflict and poaching is now at the forefront of community-led development, enterprise and peace efforts, all inextricably linked to the protection of its incredible wildlife and landscapes.

Conserving the Natural Environment

20%

PIKE (Proportion of Illegally Killed Elephants) reported in 2022, a significant decrease from 25% in 2021 and 36% in 2020

4,401

Hectares of degraded land (formerly productive grazing land) rehabilitated

3

Community-run endangered species sanctuaries for black rhino, hirola and the Rothschild’s giraffe

95,494

Mangroves have been planted in Pate, Kiunga, and Lower Tana Community Conservancies since 2018

25%

of the known global population of hirola reside in the community-run Ishaqbini Hirola Sanctuary

508

Square kilometers of conservation and protection of fisheries and coastal habitat

NRT member community conservancies work to conserve wildlife and sustainably manage the grassland, forest, river and marine ecosystems upon which livelihoods depend.

Latest from the Field

Featured

Jun 18, 2025

From Margins to the Frontlines: NRT Women Transforming Conservation

Jun 18, 2025

For years, women in Kenya's arid and semi-arid lands have played a critical but often overlooked role in conservation. Despite their deep connection to natural resource management, they have been excluded from decision-making due to entrenched cultural norms. But today, that is changing—especially across the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) landscape, where women are stepping into leadership roles and claiming space in governance.