Community Payment for Ecosystem Services in the Amboseli Ecosystem: Leasing Land for Livelihoods and Wildlife
African Wildlife Foundation
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Abstract: Amboseli National Park, located in southern Kenya, is world renowned for its elephants, wildlife and magnificent views of Mt. Kilimanjaro. However, like many Parks throughout the world, Amboseli is too small to support viable populations of certain species. Wildlife is dependent on the community lands outside the Park. Six community group ranches surround the Park, including Kimana Group Ranch which abuts the Park on the east side. Over the past two decades, Kimana Group Ranch has sub-divided its land into 60-acre lots, which have been allocated through letters of allotment and title to individual members of the Group Ranch. The sub-division has resulted in land sales that have left pastoralists landless, as well as mixed land use not-compatible with conservation, including farming, development, settlement and fencing. This has resulted in a significant challenge to wildlife movement and traditional pastoralism. In an effort to protect wildlife habitat and provide direct financial benefit to landowners, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) established a Payment for Ecosystem Service (PES) program in 2009, which entails the leasing of land for biodiversity conservation from 340 Maasai landowners. The leases are legally binding and outline land use restrictions that must be met in order for payment to be received. Some of the restrictions include no farming, fencing, blocking wildlife movement, commercial resource extraction and development. To sustain the PES program, AWF first secured the support of private foundations and government funding sources, and then entered into an agreement with a private enterprise and Kenya Wildlife Service who will support the lease program by making the PES payments. Africa is facing unprecedented loss of wildlife and habitat. New and innovative conservation tools must be used. The conservation lease program is one that can be replicated in other areas to secure wildlife habitat and provide benefits directly to communities.