Towards Rhino Recovery; Putting Community Perspectives at the Heart of Planning

The Kenya Rhino Range Expansion, KRRE programme is exploring the potential for rhino reintroduction and sanctuary establishment within the Naibung’a community conservancies (Lower, Central and Upper). Establishing a rhino sanctuary on community land requires a Free, Prior and Informed Consent FPIC, process, given the significance of the decision for community land use, livelihoods, and long-term management commitments.

The FPIC process has begun in partnership with The Livelihoods and Landscapes Group TLLG, who alongside KRRE, conducted pre-Free, Prior and Informed Consent fieldwork, reaching 396 people, including 87 conservancy-level representatives and 309 community members across nine sampled villages. Village meetings included separate discussions with men and women, while engagement with community leadership brought together Conservancy Boards, Community Land Management Committees (CLMCs), Chiefs and Nyumba Kumi.

Village level meeting, women sub-group in Koija Community land.

The process is already influencing how the next stages of the initiative will be implemented. Community feedback showed that Community Assemblies are the preferred format for substantive FPIC decisions, with a recognized two-thirds quorum and 70 per cent voting threshold. The process will also give greater representation to women and youth leaders, Chiefs, Nyumba Kumi, grazing committees and age-set leaders, alongside existing CLMC and conservancy structures.

Early responses from community-level participants whose willingness-to-consider responses were recorded, 133 indicated “yes”, five indicated “no”, while 79 said they needed more time to consider the proposal. The findings reinforce the importance of ensuring that “willingness to consider” is understood as an opportunity to explore the proposal, rather than a commitment to host rhino.

The engagements also identified practical issues that will need to be addressed before communities can make informed decisions. These include clarity on the potential sanctuary location, access to water, shared grazing areas, livestock movement corridors and the relationship with neighboring conservancies. Representatives from neighboring conservancies also expressed a willingness to collaborate, highlighting the importance of planning beyond individual conservancy boundaries.

The evidence gathered will strengthen the FPIC protocols and inform the design of the programme's grievance redress mechanism.