Kenya Rangelands Ecosystem Services pRoductivity (RangER) Program Launched
The Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), European Union (EU) in Kenya, E4Impact, World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Community Safety Initiative (CSI), AMAYA Triangle Initiative (ATI) counties of Baringo, Laikipia, Samburu and Isiolo have successfully launched the Kenya Rangelands Ecosystems services pRoductivity (RangER) Program, an European Union (EU) funded project that seeks to adopt an integrated landscape approach in the four Arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) counties constituting the AMAYA Triangle counties of Laikipia, Baringo, Samburu and Isiolo.
The program aims to enhance the productivity of ecosystem services provided by rangelands within AMAYA Triangle counties through investments in evidence-based climate-smart feed resources, an array of climate-smart tree-wildlife-and natural resource-based livelihoods, and enhancing the capacity of AMAYA Triangle counties in governance, peace and security for both wildlife and people.
Arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) constitute 80% of Kenya’s land mass. The ASALs are home to the less developed populations who live on less that one USD a day, are dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods and are exposed to food insecurity. These lands are historically and politically marginalized; they are also economically isolated, which translates into low levels of public, private and commercial investment and poor infrastructure.
Most inhabitants of ASALs depend on livestock to live, with the annual business figure from the livestock industry estimated at Ksh 10 billion (USD 100 million). Resource related conflicts occur regularly around lands scarce resources like water and livestock, livestock activities and between local communities and wildlife. Despite hosting 80% of Kenya’s biodiversity, the diverse ASAL landscapes and habitats are rapidly being lost and degraded through land fragmentation and unsustainable grazing.
“The RangER programe provides us with the opportunity to jointly scale –up the community conservancy model and address the pressing challenges of our time including extreme climate events like drought, it allows us to improve food security of our communities through alternative livelihoods and promote circular economic activities in protected areas. We have the opportunity to create sustainable enterprises and lasting peace in the Cooperation for Peace and Development (CPD) Economic Bloc, ” says EU Ambassador to Kenya Henriette Geiger.
She adds that “The European Union support of 4.9M Euros will go towards biodiversity conservation, livelihoods improvement and peace building in the AMAYA Triangle Counties of Baringo, Laikipia, Samburu an Isiolo. This is part of the #TeamEurope actions with Denmark, France, Sweden and Hungary. The RangER programme works towards mitigating the impacts of climate change”.
Target beneficiaries of the program are the communities within Baringo, Isiolo, Laikipia and Samburu representing 25 existing community conservancies with a population of 183,158 local people including 89,015 women and 137,552 youth.
The communities in the region are exposed to three mains risks, in order of importance: drought, livestock diseases, and conflicts that are linked to scarcities of rangeland resources. Droughts in particular, have resulted in a shortage of pasture and have caused water resources such as streams and springs, to dry up and permanent water source levels dropping.
“I am confident the County governments of Samburu, Isiolo, Laikipia and Baringo in partnership with the European Union through its consortium partners shall implement this programme expediently for the benefit of the region and its people, ” says Stanley Kiptis, Baringo County Governor, also the ATI Chairperson.
Degraded ecosystems and decline in productivity of the ecosystem services they provide, violent conflicts associated with climate change, policy and institutional (governance) failures and subsequently scarce pasture and water resources and dwindling wildlife numbers present a grave concern, which – if allowed to persist – will lead to reduced economic contributions of wildlife to Kenya’s development, poverty alleviation and sustainability of the resource base.
“The ranger programme is a very unique opportunity that brings technical partners and county governments to implement some identified community needs within the AMAYA region. Integrated landscapes will enable local communities to continue, in a sustained manner, to derive much needed ecosystem services while conserving biodiversity,” Tom Lalampaa, CEO, Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT).
The launch was attended by AMAYA region Governors led by Chairperson H.E Stanley Kiptis (Baringo), H.E Nderitu Mureithi (Laikipia), Deputy Governor Dr. Julius Leseeto (Samburu), Isiolo County Deputy Governor Dr. Abdi Issa among other leaders.
The program is implemented by a consortium of five technical partners and four AMAYA counties. They include;
About Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT)
The Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) is a membership organisation owned and led by the 43 community conservancies it serves in northern and coastal Kenya. 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. NRT supports the conservancies with governance, technical skills, conflict resolution, livelihoods, fundraising and enterprise development. Under this consortium, NRT is a lead partner supporting AMAYA counties to strengthen and build effective governance for the adoption of climate-smart livelihoods, deepening the community conservancy model and enhancing peace and security in the landscape.
About E4Impact
E4Impact is an initiative launched in 2010 with the objective of training impact entrepreneurs in the developing world to support the start-up and growth of their businesses. E4I’s approach is action-oriented, customized and results driven to scale the growth and impact of enterprises. E4IMPACT leads in the delivery of skilling beneficiaries to scale existing value chain enterprises to have a higher impact on ecologically sustainable feed-and-food-security and natural based livelihoods systems.
About World Agroforestry (ICRAF)
ICRAF is a centre of science and development excellence that harnesses the benefits of trees for people and the environment. ICRAF’s mission is to harness the multiple benefits trees provide for agriculture, livelihoods, resilience, and the future of our planet, from farmers’ fields through to continental scales. ICRAF supports the AMAYA landscape and promotes feed-and-food-security by introducing communities to different agro-forestry and afforestation/reforestation options for feed-and-food-security.
About Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)
JKUAT’s mission is to offer accessible quality training, research, innovation and entrepreneurship in order to produce leaders in the fields of Agriculture, Engineering, Technology, Enterprise Development, Built Environment, Health Sciences, Social Sciences and other Applied Sciences to suit the needs of a dynamic world. Some of JKUAT’s areas of expertise include inter alia hydrology, land use planning, water and wildlife resources management, dryland farming and rangeland management. JKUAT leads the consortium’s activities in co-producing knowledge to guide and inform project interventions in the AMAYA landscape.
About Community Safety Initiative (CSI)
CSI is a Community Based Organization working in the Amaya Triangle counties. CSI partners with the National Police Service on peace building and conflict transformation agenda as well with professionals from pastoral areas to solve social challenges affecting local communities. CSI supports peace building and reconciliation across and among local communities in the AMAYA Counties.
AMAYA Triangle Initiative (ATI)
AMAYA Triangle Initiative (ATI) brings together the four counties of Baringo, Laikipia, Samburu and Isiolo with the aims of adopting a sustainable policy approach towards addressing the common development challenges particularly on insecurity, resource conflicts, food insecurity, environmental issues, drought emergencies, natural resource management and livelihoods among others.