NOTES FROM THE FIELD
- WOMEN IN CONSERVATION
Greetings from Nairobi!
March 8th was International Women's Day so we wanted to take this opportunity to showcase and celebrate the incredible work being done by women in East Africa to protect our precious natural resources. These women are activists, peacemakers, rangers, researchers, conservationists, and leaders. In every way, day after day, they are leading the charge to create a better future for our planet.
Their stories speak for themselves.
Enjoy! And as always, please
share
this newsletter with partners in your network. We welcome
your feedback.
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Juniper Neill
Environment Office Chief
USAID Kenya and East Africa
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Community-Led Conservation in Kenya - Click to RSVP
The National Geographic Society, The Nature Conservancy, and USAID invite you to an event highlighting Scaling Community-Led Conservation at Kenya's Northern Rangelands Trust. April 3, 2019 in Washington, D.C.
Read more
www.eventbrite.com
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DRIVING POSITIVE TRANSFORMATION IN NORTHERN KENYA
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Rebecca Kochulem, right, is one of ten inspirational women from the community conservancies of northern Kenya that the
Northern Rangelands Trust
(NRT) recently showcased for International Women's Day. Rebecca was the first manager of Ruko Community Conservancy at a time when two communities in Baringo County were recovering from violent conflict.
"I became a conservancy manager at the age of 25," she says, "it was a huge job for a young girl, but I was drawn to the challenge."
In 2007, conflict between the Il Chamus and Pokot communities had left many families devastated. Ruko was established to bring together these two groups and provide a platform for peace dialogue, with Rebecca at the helm.
"For the first two years, every single day was a working day" Rebecca recalls. "It was very important for us to include everyone in our decision-making: elders, women, young people and local authorities."
Eleven years later, Ruko is making strides. The re-introduction of endangered Rothschild giraffes to the conservancy helped.
"The Rothschild giraffe is the pride of Baringo and has provided a valuable tourism opportunity for us - we now welcome at least 500 tourists a year to Ruko," says Rebecca.
Read more
about Rebecca and the strides that Ruko Conservancy has made in mending conflicts and reintroducing wildlife for economic gain.
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Rebecca, above, recently became the NRT West Community Development Officer. Another female manager has just taken the lead at Ruko.
Find all the of NRT's #10Women profiles here:
#10Women for SDG10
. SDG 10 represents the tenth UN Sustainable Development Goal that is all about empowering and promoting the social, economic and political inclusion of everyone, regardless of gender or ethnicity.
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Rebecca will travel to Washington D.C. to be part of a panel on Community-Led Conservation in Kenya film launch
event
on April 3, 2019 at National Geographic Society (invite above). There, she will join other Northern Rangelands Trust representatives to share lessons learned and successes from more than ten years of work with community conservancies.
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Josphine Ekiru was once held captive by elephant poachers. She saved her life armed only with words. She convinced the poachers to let her go with words that they would understand:"All of you will be killed through poaching. Our community will be ...Read more on
USAIDpubs.exposure.co
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ENVIRONMENTAL CHAMPIONS SPOTLIGHT: MUNIRA BASHIR
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Munira Bashir, The Nature Conservancy Kenya Program Director, is passionate about community-based conservation. We recently asked her to tell us more about the impact of the USAID community conservation programs she oversees. Her responses are in bold.
"Community conservation has built community ownership of wildlife as a valuable resource that needs to be protected because it puts food on the table and pays school fees."
The community conservation movement in Kenya is connecting communities to its wildlife for mutual gain. Community members are building conservation-based enterprises that are fueling jobs and improving livelihoods.
"Community-based conservation in Kenya provides the buffer zones and security for wildlife resources in Kenya. National parks and reserves are surrounded by community-managed wildlife conservancies. Without them, parks would be islands with threats of encroachment and security challenges," said Bashir.
Because of USAID funding, wildlife conservancy associations now have the capacity to attract funding and act as a voice for policy and legislative change in the country.
"The Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association has become a recognized regional institution and learning model with the capacity to attract funding and partnerships for conservation in the region, and the Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association is now recognized by government and Kenya Wildlife Service as a forum representing community-based conservation in the country."
This recognition, combined with successful community engagement, are helping community conservancies to flourish with healthy ecosystems and improved livelihoods.
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Munira Bashir interacts with rangers from Kiunga Community Conservancy at their camp in Kiunga, Kenya. ©: Mwangi Kirubi. Source:
The Nature Conservancy
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Meet Munira Bashir, second from right. She is The Nature Conservancy Kenya Program Director and long-time wildlife conservation advocate with over 25 years of work experience in community-based conservation.
In 2008, the President of Kenya honored her contribution to community wildlife conservation with an official decoration -The Head of State Commendation -HSC.
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ENVIRONMENTAL CHAMPIONS SPOTLIGHT: BELLA LOBAALI
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Meet Bella Lobaali. Bella is from the Samburu communities that formed Sera Conservancy in 2001. Bella began working for the conservancy in 2015 as a radio operator. She excelled at her job, which involved intensive 24/7 radio communications and support for the conservancy’s 15 black rhinos. Because of her strong performance, Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) deployed her to the Lamu Operation Room where she established communications and trained radio operators for coastal conservancies. In 2017, Bella broadened her professional skill-set and contribution to community conservancies once again, this time to support radio operations at NRT's Joint Operations Control Center.
She's now a full-time employee with NRT, supporting field rangers across the NRT landscape of 39 conservancies. She updates situation reports, provides real-time monitoring of collared elephants and advises management on the deployment of patrols teams. She uses statistical analysis software to record incidents and generate monthly security reports.
Radio operators like Bella are at the forefront of community conservancy efforts to improve peace and security and to stop the poaching of wildlife.
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Kenya Wildlife Service Celebrates Women in Conservation
This #InternationalWomensDay we salute and celebrate all the women in the service of conservation, preservation and management of our wildlife and natural resources. #HappyWomensDay2019 @IWD2019
Read more
twitter.com
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TECHNICAL RESOURCES - WOMEN IN RESEARCH
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COMBATING ILLEGAL TRADE BY GROWING A DNA LIBRARY
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Kenyan researcher Dr. Beatrice Khayota and her team at the
National Museums of Kenya are addressing the often overlooked problem of poaching of endangered plant material.
The poaching of rare plants can alter ecosystems and decimate wild populations. The results of which are difficult to understand without full knowledge of how plants and animals interact.
To curb this behavior, Dr. Khayota and her team are sequencing the DNA from a myriad of species found in markets, at borders, and in the wild,
to grow a ‘DNA barcode’ database
for identifying species even when obscured as powders or in their dried forms. This work is ongoing throughout Kenya and Tanzania. The study, supported by USAID/Kenya & East Africa and the
Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research program
, with collaboration from Kenya Wildlife Services and the Smithsonian Institution, establishes a means for accountability.
Dr. Khayota’s work
provides courts with the necessary training and definitive evidence to effectively prosecute traffickers. It is also identifies ports that serve as major hubs for the passthrough of poached plant material.
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Dr. Khayota hopes that giving power to customs and court officials will dissuade traffickers and encourage policy changes to intensify trafficking penalties.
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MELTING GENES ENABLES COURTROOM USE OF DNA EVIDENCE AND TURNS UP HEAT ON WOULD-BE WILDLIFE TRAFFICKERS
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Identifying trafficked wildlife and prosecuting offenders takes time and is expensive. Dr. Lillian Wambua is trying to reduce both those impediments by using
High Resolution Melting Analysis (HRMA) to identify bushmeat DNA.
The process measures the melting point of DNA from samples of meat that are often obscured in their identity as they move through markets. The obtained melting curve is compared to measured curves from endangered and protected species.
The process is quick, requires little training, and can be done with a small machine that is affordable for ports and markets.
Dr. Wambua and her team are working throughout Kenya and Tanzania in partnership with the
International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology
,
Kenya Wildlife Services, and the Smithsonian Institution, and they are supported by USAID/Kenya - East Africa and the
Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research program
. Current efforts are centered around outreach and training court officials on the reliability of HRMA results, which must still be accepted as evidence
admissible in court
before making large scale impact.
Dr. Wambua is confident that incorporation of this technique will significantly improve measures of accountability and stifle brazen traffickers.
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Combatting Bushmeat Trade
Dr. Wambua and team sweep the grass of Maasai Mara for host-seeking ticks. They are establishing transboundary surveillance by high resolution melting analysis of vertebrate molecular barcodes.
Read more
sites.nationalacademies.org
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How can the art of film advance the causes of science? How do communities use media to support their environmental activism? Documentary Filmmaking in Kenya: Techniques in Visual Storytelling on Wildlife and Wildlands Conservation.
The Holly and Henry Wendt, Class of 1955, Global Seminar
June 12 – July 26, 2019
Mpala Research Center, Nanyuki Source: PIIRS
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Apply Now
USAID is a proud supporter of Dr. Paula Kahumbu's work to develop African conservation television content, by Africans, for African audiences. Through both the NTV Wildlife and upcoming Wildlife Warriors series, the story of East Africa's conservation heritage and its heroes are being told for the first time. The above documentary filmmaking class is an an incredible opportunity for budding Kenyan filmmakers to build their skills.
Loisaba Conservancy needs a charismatic person with a conservation science background to implement monitoring and evaluation protocols that measure the impact of habitat and wildlife management, carry out long-term elephant monitoring, lead education programmes with neighbouring schools, and engage visitors and donors. To apply, send CV and cover letter to
jobs@spaceforgiants.org
by March 29, 2019.
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The world of wildlife protection in Kenya has long been dominated by men, who risk life and limb for our endangered species. But thanks to an innovative project, that could all be about to change.
Source: Adventure.com
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For the first time ever, women will join the forty-plus team of community scouts patrolling Mbire district in Zimbabwe’s wildlife-rich Lower Zambezi Valley. For Country Manager Olivia Mufute, who leads African Wildlife Foundation’s community conservation and wildlife protection programs in the landscape, adding female scouts to the force is not a minor achievement.
Source: African Wildlife Foundation.
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Today, we celebrate International Women’s Day, a day to remind us that a gender-balanced world is a better world. This is as true at Big Life Foundation as it is in any work force, and it’s true 365 days of the year. The success of Big Life’s programs relies heavily on women operating at all levels of the organization – from our administrative team to financial managers to our Board of Directors. But did you know that we also have women working as community rangers?
Source: Kenya Wildlife Service website.
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Cape Town – The African Leadership University’s School of Wildlife Conservation (SOWC) has announced a campaign to award up to eight scholarships to passionate women in conservation with potential for leadership in senior positions in their organizations. Source: IOL.
Read more
As leaders gather in Davos this week, ecological challenges are on top of the agenda. The
World Economic Forum Global Risks report
released earlier this month cast shadows on our common future. The top three most likely risks for 2019 are all climate-related: extreme weather, failure of climate-change mitigation, and adaptation and natural disasters. A lot of climate solutions already exist that need to be scaled up, such as this grassroots solution pioneered by
International Fund for Animal Welfare
(IFAW) that works with women in indigenous communities in Kenya. Source: Forbes.
Read more
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USAID Kenya and East Africa Environment | www.usaid.gov/east-africa-regional/environment
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