Pride campaign, Samburu District, Kenya
Found grazing in woodland areas of Kenya, the greater kudu (Tregelaphus strepsiceros) is a peaceful, majestic antelope with long legs, a bluish-grey coat and white torso stripes. The male of the species grows spectacularly large horns that twist upwards 2-3 times over as it ages. Even though the horns are easy to spot, the animals white markings provide camouflage, making sightings scarce. The people of Samburu in northern Kenya have great affinity for the kudu, using its horns to communicate with different musical notes signaling meetings, accompanying ceremonies, or warning community members of nearby danger.
The greater kudu is a symbol of both the beauty and the threatened status of an important ecological corridor in Kenya known as the Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust (NWCT) a 75,000-hectare community conservation area managed by the Samburu people. Wildlife and people have peacefully co-existed in this region for centuries, but growing populations and concentrated settlement patterns are increasing competition for water, forests, and grazing lands. So while local communities take great pride in their native species and natural landscapes, their very way of life is now threatening the survival of the kudu, as well as the critically endangered pancake tortoise, reticulated giraffe, grevy zebra, and African bush elephant.
In partnership with NWCT, Rare launched a Pride campaign in this region in late 2006. Led by local conservationist Titus Letaapo, and with support from the Lewa Conservancy and Earthwatch Institute, this campaign is already changing the way local communities balance pursuit of livelihood with preservation of natural heritage. While the Pride project will not conclude until June 2008, this report contains an overview of progress to date.
The Challenge
Overgrazing and forest fires are the main threats to Namunyaks species and ecosystems. Livestock numbers have increased in recent years as they become a singular lifeline for survival among a fast-rising population. Unorganized grazing results in habitat destruction (the cutting of trees to create more land for livestock) and encroachment onto land marked for conservation, causing soil erosion. Wildlife-livestock and wildlife-human conflicts are also rising, with the lives of many wild animals often sacrificed in self-defense. Developing better solutions for co-existence and alternative livelihoods are key challenges.
Charcoal burning and honey harvesting represent alternate income sources among a largely poor and unemployed community, especially during periods of drought that cause the death of livestock. But these practices often lead to fires that create further habitat destruction. Fire is used during honey harvesting to smoke bees out of their nests; these flames are left unattended to burn out and end up decimating woodland areas.
While many Samburu are actively engaged in conservation, it is crucial for the community at large to understand how their practices are negatively impacting the land they rely on for social, economic, and cultural survival.
The role of the Rare Pride campaign
Starting in September 2006, Rare provided Titus with in-depth training in community outreach, participatory planning, and other tools needed to change the way the Samburu people approach conservation. Born and raised in this region, Titus is personally familiar with the struggles his community endures to survive, but knows that survival does not need to come at the expense of precious land and wildlife. Titus, Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust, and Rare conducted several months of stakeholder interviews, focus groups, ecological and behavioral assessments, and campaign planning before launching a series of Pride-building tactics in April, 2007 that are still in progress. Pride campaign goals include:
- introducing sustainable grazing methods to herders
- establishing conservation areas in which grazing is not allowed
- increasing awareness of and respect for the greater kudus habitat
- reducing the number of fires by improving honey harvesting techniques and reducing dependence on charcoal production.
Titus chose the greater kudu as his campaign ambassador since its cultural significance carries great weight with both adults and children, while also serving as a strong symbol for many important species living within the conservation trust.
Progress to date:
Developing sustainable grazing methods and conservation zones
Herding has existed as a source of livelihood in the Samburu area for centuries, and Titus knew that he would be met with skepticism and doubt when he proposed changes to these practices. Understanding the value of face-to-face communication with the herding community, along with the lack of standard media channels (radio, newspapers, television), Titus planned a workshop where he could explain directly the harms caused by current grazing practices and the options for more sustainable ones.
To start, Titus identified 55 village herders to form a grass management committee that he would train in sustainable grazing methods and task with developing a set of community by-laws. After completing a two-day workshop where they learned about current issues, the committee collaborated on mapping out a grazing schedule, developing a monitoring plan and writing new by-laws that will be adopted by each herder and taught to fellow herders. These by-laws will cover 12,000 hectares of community-managed land and include rotation schedules indicating the locations where grazing will occur and agreements on land that will be set aside as non-grazing zones. Dedicated grazing areas will prevent herders from bringing livestock into core conservation zones, reducing the impact grazing has on wild animals sharing the same land. By educating the herders and allowing for open discussions, the workshop helped herders create and adopt sustainable standards of their own, without having laws imposed upon them from the outside.
To provide additional education and context around sustainable grazing methods, Titus took the grass management committee, and fifteen other interested individuals, on a trip to a nearby community that is already benefiting from using grazing laws and conservation zones. Seeing first-hand how beautiful and beneficial it is to preserve the land helped the herders feel the necessity and urgency for enacting similar change in their own villages.
Increasing awareness of the kudus habitat
Since raising awareness of and respect for the greater kudus habitat is much broader than teaching new grazing methods to herders, Titus needed a different venue for this message. He wisely chose the popular annual Namunyak Marathon that takes place within the Lewa Conservancy reserve in Northern Kenya and is considered one of the 10 toughest marathon races in the world. In addition to being a tough race thats run on dirt terrain, its also a conservation event that raises funds for community projects around the areas of Samburu, Isiolo, Laikipia and Meru. This years marathon took place on Saturday, June 28th with over 700 runners, 3,000 spectators, journalists from the BBC, and even a guest visit from actor Ewan McGregor, who stopped by while on a motor bike trip through Africa. The marathon was followed by an annual Cultural Day that features celebration, singing, and dancing.
Titus recognized that the fun, positive nature of this event was a perfect fit for spreading messages about community environmental pride. He produced 500 t-shirts promoting the importance of the kudu and handed out kudu masks to runners (it is tradition that many runners wear clothing of animals that live in the reserve to help promote conservation). During Cultural Day, Titus and volunteers distributed cotton wraps printed in traditional colors, which are typically worn by male and female herders, featuring the greater kudu and its conservation messages. Titus even designed special cotton wraps to be worn by the local dancers during Cultural Day, which further helped reinforce the importance of the greater kudu to the 3,000 attendees and the local communities who share the kudus habitat.
Since the event, community members of all ages have been seen sporting the cotton wraps during their normal daily activities.
Reducing fires
Forest fires pose grave threats to land that both wild species and local residents depend on to survive. Therefore, Titus Pride campaign goal is to reduce the number of fires during the dry season (August/September) from 14 in 2006 to 5 in 2008 through improving wild honey harvesting techniques, reducing charcoal production, and increasing community fire fighting.
CHARCOAL PRODUCTION: Local Samburu residents produce charcoal to sell at local markets to provide money for subsistence, but the fires used to create the charcoal often spread uncontrollably and destroy natural habitats. Titus knew that simply educating charcoal producers about the negative effects of fires wouldnt create enough motivation to change behavior; he needed to find an alternate source of income as well.
With this in mind, Titus collaborated with his counterpart at the Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust, Ruben Lekaldero, to offer agricultural plots as an alternate livelihood for charcoal burners. Last year, Ruben began growing fruit and vegetables underneath a tree in his yard. Many other community members were attracted to his plot, often asked to receive vegetables from him, and occasionally a fruit or vegetable would go missing in the night. Rather than fight off his neighbors, Ruben decided to share his skills, and trained 25 women and one man (all of whom used to burn charcoal for a living) to grow their own crops. Now, all 26 individuals have lush crops and are receiving more health and financial benefits than they were getting from charcoal production. Titus remaining goal is to start six additional agricultural plots, increase the amount of weekly income earned from 200 shillings (US$3) per week to 500 shillings (US$7.50) per week, and convert additional charcoal burners into crop growers.
Using similar outreach methods to his grazing workshop, Titus will identify individual charcoal burners for agricultural plot training, conduct a field trip for them to see and learn from Rubens successful plots, and use fundraising proposals to provide the necessary equipment for starting new plots. Plot training will take place from November 2007 through January 2008, and Titus is confident that the success of Rubens plots will motivate community members in Samburu to adopt this livelihood and discontinue their practice of charcoal production.
HONEY HARVESTING: Most individuals who conduct honey harvesting are poor and typically dont own their own livestock. Unlike charcoal burning, the act of honey harvesting isnt detrimental to the environment, but the smoking method used by the harvesters often causes wildfires. Therefore, Titus goal is not to reduce the number of people gathering honey; instead he plans to train them in more sustainable techniques and provide the necessary safety equipment.
There are currently 10 bee-keepers in Samburu who have been trained in environmentally-friendly wild honey harvesting who Titus will enlist to train 30 additional gatherers. The training is set to launch in November 2007 and will include lessons on smoke safety and equipment use (smoker, mask and overalls). Titus is doing additional fundraising to purchase honey harvesting equipment for the trainees, as he knows the cost of purchase could be a barrier for behavior adoption.
Educational material on the dangers of fires will also be provided during the training session to further increase motivation for behavior change. Titus feels strongly that if honey harvesters are well-informed about the damage fires cause to their land and are armed with new skills and equipment for honey harvesting, they will naturally adopt more sustainable techniques.
COMMUNITY FIRE FIGHTING: Four villages in Samburu have already identified 15 members to be voluntary fire fighters, totaling 60 volunteers, who will be trained to control bushfires caused by grazing, charcoal production and honey harvesting. Titus is preparing to conduct a two-day workshop, in collaboration with government foresters, to teach the volunteers about the multiple causes of fire breaks, how winds affect the spreading of fire, and how to control fire without harming themselves.
Acquiring 60 volunteers is a strong sign that the community is interested in protecting their land and are committed to changing current behavior and practices. The pre-campaign survey showed that 65% of herders felt it was very important to keep fires from spreading into the forest; Titus goal is to increase this percentage to 85% by March 2008 to ensure the vast majority is dedicated to fire prevention.
These exciting achievements and plans are only a fraction of the goals Titus plans to achieve by the time his Pride campaign completes in June, 2008. Additional activities include:
- Community and school visits with a greater kudu costume and puppet show on the effects of grazing. A-Z instructional and wildlife booklets are handed out during school visits, while community visits reinforce the need for conservation areas to a larger audience. These outreach activities are projected to increase the communitys knowledge of the top three threats to the greater kudu from 18% during the pre-campaign survey to 50% by March 2008.
- Environmental Education Training for teachers in presenting puppet shows, running costume visits and producing printed materials for children. Most of the 15 schools in the area already provide some environmental education or host wildlife clubs; training teachers how to conduct these activities on their own will help current programs become more established and sustainable. Reaching the teachers directly allows conservation messages to reach more schools than Titus could visit by himself and persist beyond the completion of his campaign.
- Billboard, Poster and Bracelets/Belts production featuring greater kudu artwork and the campaign slogan I love my greater kudu. Earlier in the campaign, Titus ran a contest among school children to design kudu artwork and the winners drawing is being used on all campaign materials; Titus felt it was important to involve the children early and make them feel a sense of partnership in the campaign process. Both the billboard and the poster will act as prompts to remind people about campaign messages theyve heard and seen elsewhere.
Titus Pride campaign activities are intended to leave the Samburu community of Kenya with greater knowledge and respect for the land they share with important and endangered species, while also equipping them with the necessary tools to use more sustainable practices when farming and honey harvesting. Over the coming months, Rare, Titus, NWCT, Lewa, Earthwatch, and other partners in the region will grapple with such questions as how to measure the impact of the campaign long term, how to create additional tools and alternatives to address the persistent challenges of population growth and resource scarcity, and how to ensure that all segments of the community feel continually empowered to preserve their unique natural and cultural heritage.
testing the case study
