The African Conservation Fund

CURRENT RESEARCH &

COMMUNITY PROJECTS

This 35-year-old research program delves into the changing nature of the savannas and the emerging threats to Amboseli and savanna parks as a whole. The conservation program brings together Maasai landowners, government agencies and conservation organizations in the search for solutions to the conflict and ways to keep the savannas viable for wildlife and resident communities. A new addition to this program is a climate change component, in which the 35+ years of data will be used to help model climate change and conservation planning in savannah ecosystems.

Project lead: Dr. David Western

Needs: 

• Development of program linking climate change, conservation of savannah ecosystems, and carbon-credits  ($20,000 seed funding)
  

 

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South Rift Conservation & Research     » more

Through the Maasai conservation land trust "SORALO" (South Rift Association of Land Owners), this  project is devoted to understanding and solving the problems confronting wildlife and people in the savannas. Its aim is to develop specific policies, skills, and practices to help local communities benefit from wildlife and conserve it in the process. In addition to research components, two key elements are the establishment of the new South Rift Reseach Station & Resource Centre, an income-generating project of the ladies group in the region, and Sampu Camp, a wholey community-owned ecotourism lodge.

Project lead: John Kamanga

Needs, USD: 

• Game scout program ($28,000 total for salaries, one year for 20 scouts; $3500 for uniforms; )
• Radio communications system for scouts ($10,000)
• Resource Centre manager/liaisons ($5500)
• Bicycles for resource assessors ($140)

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Establishing a Viable Elephant Population along the Kenya-Tanzania Borderland     » more

The main purpose of this project is to link up herds that are presently isolated in National Parks, to form one of the largest free-ranging populations in Africa. In the process, the expanded range will reduce the pressure on habitats and biodiversity in parks, and re-establish the diversifying role elephants play ecologically in the savannas. 

Project lead: African Conservation Centre team, lead by Dr. Jeff Worden

Needs: 

• Additional GPS collars for tracking elephants ($6,000 each)
• Support for maintenance, monitoring, and mapping ($10,000)

 

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Resolving Human-Wildlife Conflict in a Dry Rangeland: A 30-year Baboon  Study & Conservation Project     » more         

This 30-year project studies why baboons become pests in rangelands where the conflict is centered on young livestock and other human foods that are available in limited amounts. The goal is to use the results of the research to devise better strategies for preventing, limiting and in some ways resolving this conflict.

Project lead: Dr. Shirley Strum

Needs: 

• Development of project website ($4,000)
• Support for women's enterprise projects - Twala Cultural Centre and cactus tea project ($5000)
• General research support ($10,000)

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Maasai Perspectives on the Future of Community-Based Management of Wildlife and Livestock in Southern Kenya    » more      

Both wildlife and the Maasai herding lifestyle, a vital component of Maasai culture, are threatened by changes to the landscape (particularly land subdivision and agriculture) and resulting losses in mobility.  This study, launched in early 2008, will explore Maasai perspectives about the future of open rangelands, wildlife, livestock herding, and the potential for further wildlife/livestock integration through locally-driven coordinated landuse management plans, community-based conservation, and ecotourism projects.  This study has implications for both wildlife conservation and the future of the Maasai herding lifestyle and results will provide valuable information to guide future conservation and development in southern Kenya.

Project lead: Shiloh Sundstrom, Oregon State University

Needs: 

• General research field support
  

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Whistling Thorn Conservation Community Development Project, Tanzania     » more         

Whistling Thorn Camp is located on the edge of Tarangire National Park and in the middle of the Kwa Kuchinga Wildlife Corridor - one of the most important links between the wildlife areas of northern Tanzania and southern Kenya. Supporting the poor communities there is vital to ensuring the corridor stays viable for elephants and other wildlife.

Project lead: Hagai Kissila

Needs: 

• Establishment of NGO status in Tanzania ($3,000)
• School fees for girls - ongoing ($500 per student per year)
  
• Support for women's enterprise projects - beadwork, ongoing needs to help buy supplies ($1,500)
• General school support for infrastructure ($10,000)

PROJECTS WE SUPPORTED IN THE PAST (COMPLETED)

Maasai Attitudes Towards Wildlife: Applying Traditional Knowledge to Conservation     » more 

This study explored the extent to which the coexistence of pastoral peoples and wildlife is explained by culture and lifestyle, as opposed to chance and circumstances such as low population density, pastoral migrations and drought. A complementary aim was to look at how changes in culture and lifestyle are eroding the basis of this coexistence. 

Mbirikani & Merueshi Group Ranch Maasai Project - Rosemary Groom, lead scientist     » more  

This project is multidisciplinary, linking ecology, sociology, agriculture and economics in an attempt to assess socio-ecological changes caused by land subdivision and to find an ecologically sound solution acceptable and beneficial to the Maasai land owners. It has relevance not only to the Group Ranches studied, but to the subdivision of Maasailand as a whole and is relevant worldwide where sedentarisation of nomadic pastoralists is also occurring and threatening the world’s rangelands.

Read Rosemary's  Report from the Field, May 19, 2006 - click here