The role of potential OECMs in safeguarding space for nature in Kenya: A case study of wildlife conservancies

Militant and confrontational conservation policies and practices during and immediately after the colonial era in Kenya undermined later efforts by the government to establish new, or expand existing protected areas. However, a different conservation approach that engaged communities and private landowners living in priority wildlife areas in the mid-1990s resulted in the creation of wildlife conservancies that have more than doubled the area under some form of protection in just 20 years. These conservancies, mainly located adjacent to national parks and reserves, host a large proportion of the national biodiversity and are contributing to the long-term viability and ecological integrity of Kenya's protected area system. An assessment made in June 2017 to establish whether the conservancies would qualify as "other effective area-based conservation measures" (OECMs) concluded that they all satisfied the criteria, except that some had no guarantee of sustained conservation outcome over the long term. The main reason for the very close compliance with the OECM guidelines can be attributed to the fact that these conservancies were established in areas identified as important for conserving Kenya's biodiversity using a scientific approach based on biological, social and economic considerations. More conservancies continue to be established.