Cross-County Conservancies Collaboration & Strengthening Security Systems

Working with neighboring counties on security is essential to maintaining a connected landscape; Last month, such partnership among community conservancies, elders and security teams across Laikipia and Samburu, led to the recovery of 136 out of 143 shoats stolen near Arjiju early this month.

The conservancies came together to pool resources, from vehicles, food rations and coordinate action across county boundaries. Rangers from Il Ngwesi and Maiyanat conservancies in Laikipia, Westgate and Kalama Conservancies in Samburu worked together to recover and hand back all but six of the stolen livestock to their respective owners.  

The recovered livestock before handing it back to the owners.

Paul Ole Kimiri, Conservancy Manager at Il Ngwesi Conservancy, who coordinated the recovery efforts, credited the successful exercise to teamwork and commitment; “Such collaboration is essential to strengthening responses to protecting community livelihoods and building security across the wider landscape”, said Paul.

The same coordination was evident in wildlife emergencies, when an elephant became trapped in a dam at Naibunga Lower–Ilmotiok, and KWS veterinary and Doldol security teams worked alongside the conservancy and local teams to successfully rescue the animal.

Such incidences remind us why continuous building of the required capacities for rangers is key. In September in partnership with the Wyss Academy For Nature, we continued supporting conservancies to strengthen the systems that enable teams to detect, report and respond to threats. At Shulmai conservancy, a rangers training on Standard Operating Procedures reinforced command structures, professional conduct, incident reporting and responsibilities during routine operations and emergencies.

Shulmai Conservancy rangers conduct a field excercise during the training.

At Naibunga Lower conservancy, rangers, fence technicians, rangelands teams and community conservation assistants were brought together to strengthen the use of Earth Ranger for wildlife observations, incident reporting and information management. Training on wildlife health and zoonotic disease reporting complemented this work, strengthening early detection and reporting of emerging wildlife-health risks.