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Arusha workshop Report February 2012
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CONSERVING ELEPHANTS IN THE TANZANIA-KENYA
BORDERLANDS: FORGING A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH
Workshop Report 16th and 17th February 2012
Arusha, Tanzania WORKSHOP ORGANIZED BY AFRICAN CONSERVATION CENTRE - KENYA, AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY - TANZANIA
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SPONSORED BY: Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation
ORGANIZERS: David Western (ACC) and Charles Foley (WCS)
RAPPORTEURS: Preetika Bhanderi and Anna Sakellariadis
Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg
Foundation (LCAOF)
650 Fifth Avenue, 15th Floor
New York, NY 10019
USA
Email: [email protected]
African Conservation Centre (ACC)
P. O. Box 15289 – 00509
Nairobi
Kenya
Email: [email protected]
Wildlife Conservation Society
(WCS) - Tanzania
Plot no. 36 A, Block 1
Uzunguni, Mbeya
Tanzania
Email: [email protected]
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CONTENTS BACKGROUND TO THE CONFERENCE ................................................................................................................... 4
GOALS OF THE CONFERENCE ................................................................................................................................... 4
SUMMARY OF THE WORKSHOP .............................................................................................................................. 5
WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS ...................................................................................................................................... 6
OPENING SESSION ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
PLENARY SESSION ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
The Tanzania-Kenya borderlands elephant populations: setting a common goal ............................ 8
Plotting elephant movements: known pathways and information gaps .............................................. 9
WORKING SESSIONS .................................................................................................................................................... 9
Research and monitoring ................................................................................................................................... 10
Community coordination .................................................................................................................................... 11
Government oversight and coordination ....................................................................................................... 13
RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................................................................ 14
Research and monitoring information ........................................................................................................... 14
Community coordination .................................................................................................................................... 14
Government oversight and coordination ....................................................................................................... 14
CONCLUSIONS AND THE WAY AHEAD ................................................................................................................. 15
APPENDIX 1 .................................................................................................................................................................. 17
Acronyms and Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................. 17
APPENDIX 2 .................................................................................................................................................................. 18
Agenda ...................................................................................................................................................................... 18
APPENDIX 3 .................................................................................................................................................................. 19
Organizational Summaries ................................................................................................................................ 19
APPENDIX 4 .................................................................................................................................................................. 21
Workshop Participants ........................................................................................................................................ 21
APPENDIX 5 .................................................................................................................................................................. 23
Workshop Participants Group Photo .............................................................................................................. 23
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................................ 24
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BACKGROUND TO THE CONFERENCE
Cross-border collaboration is vital for conserving the large elephant population in the Tanzania-
Kenya borderlands and connecting the fragmented herds spread among the many national parks,
reserves and community wildlife areas in the region. The borderlands elephant population is the
best studied and most famous in all of Africa and a key attraction in the $1.3 billion tourism industry
of Tanzania and Kenya.
Heavy poaching for ivory in the 1970s and 1980s reduced the elephant population in the
borderlands from some 50,000 to fewer than 15,000 by 1989. The large, connected herds that
traversed the border and the Rift Valley were fragmented and largely confined to parks by heavy
poaching. The concentrated herds have had a large impact on the habitats of many parks. Following
the international ivory ban of 1989, elephant numbers began to recover and spread out from the
parks once more.
In recent years a sharp rise in poaching and deepening conflict with people has slowed elephant
recovery and blocked range expansion. Most of the poaching and all of the conflict takes place when
elephants spread onto community lands around parks. Tanzania’s and Kenya’s national elephant
plans recognize that recovery of elephant populations and their viability in parks depend on an
expanded range and population connections among fragmented herds. Expanding elephant ranges
beyond parks depends on access to suitable community lands, protection from poachers, containing
conflict with people and, above all, ensuring that communities benefit from wildlife and have the
conservation and management skills to do so.
The scale and scope of conserving a viable elephant population in the Tanzania-Kenya borderlands
call for a close collaboration between the two countries and among government agencies, local
communities and non-government organizations (NGOs) operating in the region. The Liz Claiborne
Art Ortenberg Foundation (LCAOF) sponsored a meeting to foster such cooperation.
GOALS OF THE CONFERENCE
The overall goal of the meeting was to bring together community representatives, conservation
organizations and government agencies in the Tanzania-Kenya borderlands concerned with elephant
conservation with the following aims in mind:
Assess the status and movements of elephant populations in the borderlands region.
Identify pathways needed to establish a viable, interconnected elephant population.
Strengthen community conservation capacity in critical pathways, aimed at safeguarding
elephants, reducing conflict and increasing local benefits.
Identify how government agencies, conservation organizations and communities can work
collaboratively towards these ends.
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SUMMARY OF THE WORKSHOP
The Tanzania-Kenya borderlands span 16 protected areas ranging from Serengeti-Mara to Tsavo-
Mkomazi and support the largest bushed savanna elephant population in Africa. Herds range widely
beyond parks, across community land and between the two countries. The challenge of conserving
such migratory and vulnerable herds brought together in Arusha over sixty representatives of the
two governments, communities, conservation organizations and researchers to forge a collaborative
approach. The workshop was organized by the African Conservation Centre (ACC) from Kenya and
the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) from Tanzania, and funded by LCAOF.
The Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) opened the workshop by strongly endorsing a
collaborative approach to conserving the trans-border elephant population. The Tanzania Wildlife
Division (WD Tanzania) and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) outlined their newly completed national
elephant management plans. Both countries stressed the need to win space for the expanding
elephant herds beyond parks by identifying and securing movement pathways, improving anti-
poaching operations, reducing human-wildlife conflict, generating wildlife benefits to communities
and supporting collaboration between governments and with the private sector.
The collaboration at the heart of the workshop was given a timely boost by passage of the East
African Community Transboundary Ecosystems Management Act, signed into law on January 29th,
2012. The act will set up a commission to oversee the conservation and sustainable development of
important East African trans-border ecosystems.
An overview of the workshop stressed the global significance of the Tanzania-Kenya borderlands as a
hotspot of biodiversity, a tourist Mecca, an area rich in pastoral cultures and the birthplace of
humankind. The opening session was followed by a discussion on common goals for the workshop.
The workshop then compiled the first tentative map of the location and movements of elephant
populations in the borderlands, based on population counts, radio-tracked animals, tracks and signs
gathered by researchers and community scouts and on genetic analysis of dung samples. The map
showed the widespread movements of elephants across the Tanzania-Kenya border, between parks,
over community lands and across the rift valley. It was agreed that the map will be routinely updated
and made freely available for research and conservation purposes. The workshop also reviewed the
information needed to monitor, plan and conserve a viable, interconnected elephant population
across the borderlands and set up a task force to recommend compatible monitoring methods and
research tools.
The community discussions looked into how to strengthen the capacity of communities to protect
elephants, avert and reduce human-wildlife conflict and raise benefits from the use of wildlife. Top
priority was given to mobilizing communities in the key elephant pathways, setting up security
networks, raising awareness, encouraging partnerships, sharing information, exchanging know-how
and developing integrated work plans. The South Rift Association of Landowners (SORALO) was
elected to organize cross-border meetings as soon as possible. The communities, with the assistance
of the government wildlife agencies and conservation organizations, will prepare conservation plans
and identify the support they need to implement them.
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The government agencies looked at their role in oversight and implementation of elephant
conservation plans in the borderlands. They agreed that the current cross-border security meetings
should be widened to a task force looking at all aspects of borderlands conservation, in line with the
commission to be set up under the East African Community Transboundary Ecosystems
Management Act. The task force will encourage public-private partnerships, community initiatives,
joint patrols and monitoring and other collaborative efforts. It will include representatives from
Tanzania National Parks, TAWIRI, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, WD Tanzania, Lusaka Agreement
Taskforce, KWS, NGOs, researchers, communities and the private sector.
The workshop assigned specific tasks and identified possible start-up funds to get the cross-border
community exchanges underway. ACC in Kenya and WCS in Tanzania were charged with
coordinating activities.
The workshop concluded that the collaboration and coordination envisaged by the participants lays
a foundation not only for conserving the borderlands elephant populations, and wide-ranging
species more generally, but also for sustaining the diversity and integrity of ecosystems and
landscapes.
WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS
OPENING SESSION
Dr. Julius Keyyu, director of research development and inter-coordination of TAWIRI, delivered the
welcome address to open the conference. “We know elephants do not respect boundaries, they
cross out of national parks and they cross
international boundaries,” he said, “therefore if
we are to protect elephants in the cross-border
area, we need to coordinate efforts in Kenya
and Tanzania in order to meet our shared
aims.” Dr. Keyyu further stressed the
importance of gaining support from local
communities for elephant conservation, and
encouraged conference participants to use the
gathering as a chance to exchange thoughts on
the best methods of promoting conservation
among local groups. Finally, he endorsed and
encouraged continued cross-border research and monitoring, as most recently exemplified in the
2010 joint survey from Magadi to the Kilimanjaro-Amboseli ecosystem.
“We know elephants do not
respect boundaries, they cross out
of national parks and they cross
international boundaries,
therefore if we are to protect
elephants in the cross-border area,
we need to coordinate efforts in
Kenya and Tanzania in order to
meet our shared aims.”
- Julius Keyyu
TAWIRI
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Jim Murtaugh, from LCAOF, described how Liz Claiborne
and Art Ortenberg first became involved in elephant
conservation, inspired by a trip to Kenya and Tanzania
twenty-five years ago. Having established elephant
conservation as a primary goal of their foundation by
the end of that trip, Mr. Murtaugh told the gathering
that “this workshop has the potential to be one of the
most important investments the Foundation has made
to date.”
Mohammed Madehele, of WD Tanzania, outlined the elephant conservation priorities in the
northern Tanzania cross-border region under the new elephant management plan. The plan was
developed in 2010 and will be in effect through 2015. The four key priority issues Mr. Madehele
expanded on were securing connectivity and ecological viability of habitat across borders, enhancing
human-elephant conflict mitigation in trans-boundary areas, harmonizing research and monitoring
activities in trans-boundary areas and ensuring effective security for elephant populations in trans-
boundary areas.
Shadrack Ngene of KWS then explained the Kenya National Elephant Conservation Priorities in the
border region under the National Elephant Management Strategy about to be implemented by KWS.
The specific priorities are security; understanding the movement patterns of elephants; information
sharing on human-elephant conflict mitigation measures; collaboration on updating elephant
population status and distribution along the border regions; establishing standard elephant
mortality databases; information exchange through joint workshops; working with communities to
establish conservancies within elephant range outside protected areas; building the capacity of all
stakeholders involved in elephant conservation; trans-boundary collaborative research; and
involving all stakeholders in the elephant management decision making process.
Diane Skinner, of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, presented the African
Elephant Database, a spatial database of elephant numbers and distribution across Africa. The
database uses all available information, but categorizes information according to an Information
Quality Index based on reliability. The new multi-species African Elephant Database is a server-
based, spatially enabled system entirely built with open-source tools with a public, online
submission process, which allows frequent updates, immediate publication and finer-level data
analyses.
Dr. David Western, chairman of ACC, then provided an overview to the workshop and outlined its
aims. He began by highlighting the importance of the Tanzania-Kenya borderlands as a wildlife
spectacle, tourism destination, biodiversity hotspot and one of the few remaining areas where
abundant wildlife and humans still coexist. Elephants are vitally important to both the economy and
ecosystems. Tourism is Kenya’s largest income-generator and elephants are a major draw. The
elephant is an umbrella species that if conserved can support many other species across the large
landscape it uses.
“This workshop has the
potential to be one of the
most important investments
the Foundation has made to
date.”
- Jim Murtaugh
LCAOF
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Maintaining a viable elephant population
beyond parks depends on local
communities rebuilding traditional
coexistence in a contemporary setting.
“We’re talking about scaling up beyond
parks, beyond the ecosystem level…. What
this requires is the engagement of a new
group of people who are excluded from
conservation, and that’s local
communities.”
Elephants and wildlife must open up opportunities for the communities that host them. Escalating
poaching and growing conflict between people and elephants threatens the recovery of populations
and compresses herds into parks. Poaching and conflict must be contained if people and elephants
are to coexist. Amboseli offers an encouraging example where the elephant population rose in
number ten years before the ivory ban of 1989. The early recovery was due to the income Amboseli
National Park generated for the local community and the deterrent effect on poachers because of
community support for elephants.
Community participation in conservation calls for enabling policies, legislation and support to build
local capacity in wildlife enterprises and wildlife management. The East African Community
Transboundary Ecosystems Management Act, signed into law on January 29th, 2012 is a timely boost
to the aims of the Arusha workshop. The act recognizes the need for cross-border collaboration and
exchange, a primary goal of the workshop. It will mobilize resources for trans-border ecosystem
conservation, acknowledging that countries sharing a common border should dovetail their
conservation policies. Action must be informed by scientific and traditional knowledge. The act also
calls for any major development to undergo an environmental impact assessment and for equity in
the allocation of benefits from natural resources.
Dr. Western outlined four goals of the workshop: 1.) to bring together key players from
communities, governments, NGOs and donors, 2.) to assess the status of the borderlands
populations, 3.) to identify and ensure suitable elephants pathways beyond and between parks and
4.) to increase community capacity to lower human-elephant conflict and to raise wildlife benefits.
“We need a thousand and one citizens involved in monitoring, in protection, and in the information
gathering of elephants,” he concluded, “If we can achieve that…it will be a huge jump forward.”
PLENARY SESSION
The Tanzania-Kenya borderlands elephant populations: setting a common goal
Dr. Western chaired an interactive feedback session in which participants discussed their priorities
for the workshop. Participants set the workshop agenda based on the need to: 1.) integrate and
coordinate cross-border efforts in research and monitoring, community conservation and
“We’re talking about scaling up
beyond parks, beyond the ecosystem
level….What this requires is the
engagement of a new group of people
who are excluded from conservation,
and that’s local communities.”
- David Western
ACC
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government oversight, 2.) build community awareness of elephant conservation and build local
capacity for wildlife management and 3.) standardize data collection and use information scientific
and local knowledge in order to inform conservation decision-makers and avert human-elephant
conflict.
Plotting elephant movements: known pathways and information gaps
Dr. Charles Foley of WCS chaired a session where he pieced together regional maps (Figure 1) of the
borderlands and plotted known elephant populations and pathways. He asked participants to
volunteer any further knowledge they had about elephant movements. The baseline data will be
used to identify priority areas for conservation and will be routinely updated.
Figure 1. Kilimanjaro-Amboseli ecosystem: one of regional maps which was displayed
WORKING SESSIONS
The first set of breakout and plenary sessions gave a chance for participants to identify the way
forward on key issues in elephant conservation. In the second round of breakout and plenary
sessions, participants recommended specific actions based on the first day’s discussions. The themes
included research and monitoring, community coordination and government oversight and
coordination.
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Research and monitoring
Data collection is the basis of sound research and monitoring. The participants discussed the
challenges of data collection and collation in the trans-border region and identified possible
solutions (Table 1).
Table 1. Key issues in research and monitoring in the trans-border region
Data Type Discussion Way forward
Total count data Data collection should cover critical regions
outside protected areas
Data needs to be collated for areas with
long-term databases
Use research to identify key areas and key
threats to elephant conservation and
prioritize conservation efforts
Identify key data sources and come up with
an accessible clearinghouse to collate data
Mortality/
poaching data
Monitoring Illegal Killing of Elephants
(MIKE) can be expanded to the trans-border
region
A trans-border MIKE site should be created
to coordinate data collection efforts across
the border
Spatial data Data on park boundaries, conservancy
boundaries, village boundaries and human
settlements are required
These should be made widely accessible
through a central database
Telemetry data This system needs to be expanded to cover
the larger trans-border region
Save the Elephants will share their tools and
protocols freely
Connectivity
data
A map of elephant corridors is required Complete the corridor map by WCS
Expand use of DNA sampling as a tool to
understand connectivity
Other data
types
Ivory trade and ivory seizure information,
poverty data, socio-economic data, human
footprint information is required
Several data collection and collation issues cut across information types:
Standardized data collection - Current data collection systems should be reviewed and
standardized. Existing systems proposed for collecting standardized data are the
MaraEleApp from ElephantVoices and the Management Information System (MIST) from
KWS. Amboseli Trust for Elephants (AET) and ElephantVoices in Kenya and African Wildlife
Foundation (AWF) in Tanzania were selected to review the best systems for the trans-border
region.
Data security - Concern was expressed about data getting into the wrong hands, particularly
those of poachers. Common information systems should incorporate measures for securing
and protecting the data.
Funding - Funding should be sourced to facilitate the data collection and collaborative
exchanges. Sustainable systems of data collection and collation will need to be put in place.
Data ownership poses challenges to
data sharing. The group emphasized
the need to make data accessible to
collaborating parties while
“As far as STE is concerned, we’re going to
share the Serengeti-Mara data unilaterally.
The only people we’re not going to share it
with are poachers.”
- Iain Douglas-Hamilton
STE
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acknowledging proprietary rights. Members also identified information dissemination as vital for
research and monitoring. An important vehicle for information sharing is grassroots associations that
can spread and deliberate information at the community level. Websites and other media can help
spread the results of elephant research and monitoring work to relevant parties.
The group recognized the need for collaboration on elephant research and monitoring among
organizations. WCS and TAWIRI were nominated on the Tanzanian side and ACC and KWS on the
Kenyan side to implement the recommendations.
Community coordination
Members of this group discussed the role of communities in elephant conservation. They identified
local community involvement as a top priority for elephant conservation for the following reasons:
75% of elephants are outside protected areas
on communal land.
The opportunity cost to communities that
make land available for wildlife conservation is
high in terms of farming and ranching costs.
Communities bear the burden of human-
elephant conflict.
Although agreeing that communities should be the primary beneficiaries of elephants and wildlife
conservation on their lands, workshop participants diverged on the form of benefits. For instance,
revenue sharing schemes do provide communities with wildlife income but are impractical in some
elephant pathways remote from national parks where no alternative wildlife use exists. Further,
benefit-sharing schemes associated with protected areas depend on a tourism industry vulnerable to
global economic recessions, as in 2008. Participants also identified problems inherent in the
equitable distribution of revenue under benefit-sharing schemes. Participants suggested diversifying
the sources of benefits to communities through new revenues such as carbon credits and payments
for ecosystem services. Benefits should extend beyond monetary returns to include the value of
keeping lands open for livestock production and countering droughts.
Discussion centered on monetary compensation for the loss
crops, livestock, property and human life arising from conflict
with elephants. Some community members felt that
compensation is essential for offsetting wildlife losses and
encouraging conservation. Others were dissatisfied with
compensation dependent on donor dollars exposed to fickle
financial cycles. As costs of living and livestock production
rise, communities will become more dependent on donors to
cover losses to wildlife. Community endowment funds can
lower dependence on external donors. Most participants
stressed the importance of maintaining traditional practices
that avert human-elephant conflicts before they occur.
“Elephants are a natural
resource within the
community. The land which
elephants are using belongs
to the community.”
- Soila Sayialel
ATE
“A lot of priority has
been given to areas
around National Parks.
But what can we do to
increase our activity
around places where
there is no
infrastructure in terms
of government
organizations?”
- John Kamanga
SORALO
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The group deliberated other ways to encourage coexistence between borderland communities and
elephants. The recommendations are listed in Table 2.
Table 2. Ways to encourage coexistence between communities and elephants
Key Means Discussion Way forward
Inter-
community
coordination
How to support and
build capacity of local
communities to live with
elephants
Community Game Scouts: establish an umbrella game scout
association to coordinate and collaborate efforts throughout
the borderlands, increasing recruitment and training, and
providing sufficient equipment to eliminate gaps in security
Assess and evaluate existing models within the communities
and select/borrow/modify those models across the borders for
implementation
Integrating
knowledge
How to spread best
practices throughout the
borderlands and
eradicate discrepancies
in conservation and
management
Increase exchange learning across communities and boundaries
including involvement of NGOs.
Establish education programs that build upon traditional
understanding of coexistence to teach students how to live with
elephants
Employment
and Enterprise
How to encourage
community members to
diversify their livelihood
strategies
Enforce a minimum percentage of local employment in tourist
facilities e.g. 60% as in Amboseli
Help communities build many small enterprises so they are less
reliant on donors or completely self reliant
Support for
critical areas
How to ensure elephant
habitat connectivity
while supporting local
communities
Focus activities around places that are communal lands, not
national protected areas, where there is no infrastructure in
terms of government organizations, but which are critical
elephant pathways
The participants decided to form a community coordination committee that includes members from
existing community groups from both sides of the border. They identified the following existing
community groups (Table 3).
Table 3. Community groups in the Tanzania-Kenya borderlands
Kenya Tanzania
Amboseli Tsavo Game Scouts Association (ATGSA) Enduimet Wildlife Management Area
South Rift Association of Landowners (SORALO) Ujamaa Community Resource Trust (UCRT)
Amboseli Ecosystem Trust (AET) Friedkin Conservation Fund
Maasai Mara Conservancies Association (MMCA) Lake Natron Wildlife Management Area
Taita Landowners association including LUMO and
Mwaluganje elephant sanctuary
Ikona Wildlife Management Area
The goals of this new community coordination committee will be to:
Arrange learning exchanges across the border.
Foster interactions among communities living on each side of the border
Share information on security and coordinate security operations.
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Improve communications such as VHF radio for game scouts.
Establish coordinated operations and patrols.
Train community scouts in elephant work.
Coordinate efforts to avert and reduce human-wildlife conflict.
Develop new conservation revenues sources such as carbon credit, payments for ecosystem
services and public private partnerships.
Engage and empower women and youth groups in conservation programs.
Establish effective institutional governance systems at all levels.
Develop a provisional work plan with a budget for community-based conservation in the
borderlands.
SORALO (Kenya) was nominated to form an interim committee and Wayne Lotter (Tanzania) was
appointed as the contact person in Tanzania.
Government oversight and coordination
Participants agreed that the major role of the two governments in cross-border elephant
conservation lies in encouraging and coordinating collaboration and partnerships between
governments, among government agencies and with the public and private sector and communities.
Government oversight and coordination should focus on preventing and mitigating human-elephant
conflict (HEC) by building community awareness, garnering community support for elephant
conservation and drawing strategic land-use zones to alleviate pressures arising from community
competing with elephants (Table 4).
Table 4. Coordinating functions for governments in preventing and mitigating HEC
Key Means Discussion Way forward
Building
Community
Awareness
How to create awareness of
the importance and value
of elephant conservation
for communities and of
practices that can decrease
the incidence of HEC
Implement education programs in schools
Involve communities in data collection, incident reporting
and identifying areas of conflict
Connect researchers and conservationists to communities
to report and explain their findings
Garnering
Community
Support
How to win community
goodwill and support for
conservation activities that
avert and mitigate HEC and
raise benefits from
conserving elephants
Employ community members in efforts to prevent and
mitigate human-elephant conflict
Support community activities and increase safety by, for
example, building fences
Facilitate compensation payments
Facilitate bursaries and scholarships from money generated
by elephant conservation
Assigning
strategic land-
use zones
How to zone land-use to
lower HEC and increase
returns from conservation
and development
Map areas of high conflict and dedicate more resources to
them
Use land-use planning and zoning to identify and map key
corridors and suitable areas for wildlife and agriculture
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Participants suggested setting up an elephant trans-boundary task force made up of representatives
of all stakeholders and funded by the governments and donors. The task force will:
Build capacity of the stakeholders through specialized training, improved information
gathering and management systems and inter-agency meetings.
Synchronize national elephant management plans across the border.
Encourage policies that promote wildlife benefits to communities.
Participants agreed that ACC and KWS in Kenya and WCS and TAWIRI in Tanzania will lead the efforts
to create, integrate and coordinate the task force.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Research and monitoring information
WCS and TAWIRI in Tanzania and ACC and KWS in Kenya will coordinate and gather
information to create a digital map of the borderlands region, including boundaries of
national parks and other protected areas, agricultural lands, settled lands and so on.
All available information on elephant habitats and movements will be compiled and critical
areas for conservation identified.
KWS with AET and ElephantVoices in Kenya, and AWF in Tanzania will convene to coordinate
efforts on basic data requirements and discuss how to standardize data across areas
Community coordination
SORALO will convene a trans-boundary meeting of communities within three months to
inventory community initiatives and draw up a preliminary plan for coordinating and
strengthening elephant conservation activities.
Communities will identify the best conservation strategies and practices and promote them
across the borderlands region.
Government oversight and coordination
ACC and KWS in Kenya and WCS and TAWIRI in Tanzania will coordinate efforts to establish a task
force with the following terms:
Oversee the integration across the border of the national elephant management plans.
Raise funds to support community activities.
Integrate efforts of community groups throughout the borderlands.
“My concern is the communities, because at the end of the day these people
are the most affected ones, so if we do not build capacity for them, they will
not participate.”
- John Muya
Tanzania Wildlife Division
15
CONCLUSIONS AND THE WAY AHEAD
At the close of the conference, Dr. Western once again stressed the importance of the Tanzania-
Kenya borderlands not only for elephants, but also as a wildlife and cultural area of global
significance. Serengeti-Mara has been designated as the Eighth Natural Wonder of the World for its
great wildebeest migrations. The borderlands have the world’s largest cluster of protected areas—
sixteen in all—and aggregations of wildlife. Elephants, because of their global appeal and need for
large open spaces, are a useful species for rallying the sort of collaboration needed to conserve the
natural wealth of the borderlands. Elephants are also architects of savannah ecosystems. If mobile
they promote diversity, if confined they can degrade biodiversity.
The future of the borderlands wildlife lies in recognizing the role that communities and their lands
can play in making space available to elephants and in promoting benefiting from conservation.
Some two-thirds of elephants are outside of protected areas and impose a heavy burden on
communities in terms of crop damage and loss of life. Both Tanzania’s and Kenya’s new elephant
management plans recognize the importance of community lands in supporting viable populations
and the need for communities to benefit from conservation.
Bringing communities benefits from elephants and wildlife conservation calls for new conservation
tools and methods. Tourism will continue to be a driving force in generating revenues, but many
communities are too remote or have insufficient attractions to draw tourists despite their
importance as elephant pathways. Here new conservation tools such as carbon credits, species
conservation credits and conservation leases are essential. NGOs have a large role to play in
identifying critical elephant pathways, developing new conservation tools and engaging
communities. Governments have a role to play in land-use planning to prevent human-wildlife
conflict and in fostering contemporary modes of human-wildlife coexistence that draw on traditional
knowhow.
The challenges in conserving elephants in the enormity of the Tanzania-Kenya borderlands call for an
unprecedented scale of collaboration among governments, communities and NGOs. The Arusha
workshop was convened to explore and promote such collaboration. To foster collaboration, there
must be an awareness of the role communities can play, the conservation opportunities available to
them and the skills and capacity they need to turn human-wildlife conflict to advantage. Many
communities, particularly in Kenya, have developed conservation skills to the point of managing
their wildlife. Their success is due to national policies, the facilitating role of KWS and NGO support.
But far more important in accelerating community-based conservation has been the direct exchange
of experience among communities. The primary vehicle has been the formation of larger
associations that are granted the rights and responsibilities for wildlife and tourism management.
Cross-border exchanges between communities should therefore be the top priority for collaboration
between Tanzania and Kenya.
Dr. Western summarized the conclusions of the workshop. An inventory of organizations working on
the ground is seen as the best starting point for cross-border collaboration on elephant
conservation. Comparing conservation methods and their relative success is considered a top
priority. There is also need to identify communities adversely affected by elephants and to facilitate
16
ways for them to benefit from conservation. Sharing information on community scouts, poaching,
research and monitoring, institutional capacity and conservation skills will ensure the best practices
are spread and adopted throughout the trans-boundary region. SORALO, with backing from NGOs
present at the workshop, will take a lead in organizing a meeting of cross-border communities in the
next three months to inventory existing community efforts and initiate joint conservation plans.
The workshop recognized the importance of developing information standards for researchers,
government institutions, NGOs and communities in order to improve communication exchanges and
joint conservation efforts in borderlands. A task force was set up either side of the border to
integrate and standardize information, starting with a basic spatial map of protected areas,
community areas, corridors and so on. The baseline map will be circulated to all participants once
finalized. WCS and TAWIRI on the Tanzania side and ACC and KWS on the Kenya side will be
responsible for collecting, collating and disseminating the information generated for this map.
In the case of government oversight and coordination, the commission established by the new East
African Community Transboundary Ecosystem Management Bill will play the key role in the
coordination and management of borderland ecosystems. The national wildlife agencies will set up a
task force made up of representative government agencies, communities and NGOs. The task force
will coordinate and oversee activities relevant to conservation across the borderlands and, through
its government and NGO partners, raise donor funds to support them.
The great value of the workshop was the collaborations it opened up. “Collaboration is what
connects the communities to their partners,” Dr. Western said. “Communities are the glue that
binds the rest together.” Ultimately, to establish this new working relationship, Dr. Western
explained, “it’s going to take brave steps to bridge organizational barriers. Elephants are taking us
into a territory that requires information to be shared. Realizing that and acting on it is a first step.”
17
APPENDIX 1
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Full Name Acronym
African Conservation Centre ACC
Human-elephant conflict HEC
Kenya Wildlife Service KWS Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation LCAOF
Management Information System MIST
Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants MIKE
South Rift Association of Landowners SORALO
Tanzania Wildlife Division WD Tanzania Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute TAWIRI
Wildlife Conservation Society WCS
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APPENDIX 2
Agenda
CONSERVING ELEPHANTS IN THE TANZANIA-KENYA BORDERLANDS: FORGING A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH
ARUSHA HOTEL
16th
and 17th
February 2012
Thursday 16th
February
Opening session
08.30 Welcome address Dr. Julius Keyyu, Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute
08.50 Message from the sponsor Jim Murtaugh, Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation
09.00 National elephant conservation priorities in the border region
Mr. Mohammed Madehele, Tanzania Wildlife Division
Dr. Shadrack Ngene, Kenya Wildlife Service
09. 30 African elephant database and population monitoring
Diane Skinner, IUCN
10.00 Overview and aims of workshop David Western, African Conservation Centre
10.30 Tea break
Plenary session
11.00 The Tanzania-Kenya borderlands elephant populations: setting a common goal
Chair: David Western, African Conservation Centre
12.00 Plotting elephant movements: known pathways and information gaps
Chair: Dr. Charles Foley, Wildlife Conservation Society
13.00 Lunch
Breakout session - I
14.00 Information and research for viable interconnected elephant populations
Strengthening community conservation capacity in critical elephant pathways:
Elephant conservation
Human-elephant conflict mitigation
Increasing local benefits to communities
Lucy Waruingi, African Conservation Centre
Rose Mosha, Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute
Dr. Noah Sitati, World Wildlife Fund
Soila Sayielel, Amboseli Elephant Program
15.30 Tea break
Plenary session
16.00 Presentation and discussion of breakout sessions Dr. Alfred Kikoti, World Elephant Centre
17.30 End of session
Friday 17th
February
Plenary session
08.30 Summary of recommendations and discussions Chairman, Paul ole Kirimbai, HoneyGuide Foundation
Breakout session - II
09.00 Research and monitoring
Community coordination
Government oversight and coordination
Charles Foley, Wildlife Conservation Society
John Kamanga, South Rift Association of Landowners
Tanzania National Parks representative
10.30 Tea break
Plenary session
11.00 Presentation and discussion of breakout sessions Tanzania National Parks representative
12.20 Conclusions and the way ahead David Western, African Conservation Centre
12.40 Vote of thanks Bernard Ngoru, Kenya Wildlife Service
12.45 Lunch and departures
19
APPENDIX 3
Organizational Summaries
The Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation
The Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation is a private body devoted to the
conservation of nature and the amelioration of human distress. The
Foundation seeks to redress the breakdown in the processes linking nature
and humanity. It concerns itself particularly with matters of species
extinction, habitat destruction and fragmentation, resource depletion and resource waste. It favors
solutions that directly benefit local communities and serve as exemplars for saving species and
wildlands. It recognizes the imperative to reconcile nature preservation with human needs and
aspirations.
The Foundation devotes a substantial portion of its funding to developing countries. It therefore
recognizes the destructive connection between poverty, over-population, high infant mortality,
cultural traditions that dehumanize women, inequitable land distribution and the subsequent
degradation of the land and the systems the land supports.
The Foundation is also actively involved in conservation in the United States, particularly Montana
and those Western states historically dependent upon extractive industries and agriculture. It
encourages local initiatives addressing the problems of diminishing natural resources, technological
change and job loss. It emphasizes conservation through cooperation, persuasion and the
development of sustainable economic alternatives to resource depletion.
African Conservation Centre
African Conservation Centre (ACC) is a not-for-profit Non-Governmental
Organization dedicated to the development of African Conservation
excellence. ACC places emphasis on a three tier approach of integrating
Knowledge, Environment and Livelihoods in resolving principal problems
facing Biodiversity Conservation in East Africa. To achieve this, ACC
serves a number of complimentary functions: Forging interdisciplinary
approaches to Conservation advanced training, Research into issues with broad application and
policy implications. ACC developed from a small nucleus of Kenya Nationals associated with Wildlife
Conservation International (Kenya) WCI, a Division of NYZS the Wildlife Conservation Strategy to
respond to conservation challenges in East Africa. In its formative years, ACC pioneered research
methods in Ecosystems research and Ecotourism. It also pioneered Community-based Conservation
concepts and practices. ACC selects pilot Conservation projects with a high chance of success and
broad application in these areas ACC believes in saving African wildlife through sound Science, local
initiatives, and good Governance. A primary aim is to bring together the people and skills needed to
20
build East Africa’s capacity to conserve Wildlife. ACC achieves its Mission through programs that
conserve Ecosystems and maintain continuous and open Landscapes and those that improve the
incomes and Livelihoods of local Communities through the sustainable utilization of Wildlife and
Natural Resources. ACC also seeks to establish strong Community-based institutional structures that
address common and salient conservation and livelihood challenges. ACC’s conservation programs
are based on a multi-pronged approach. Although the African Conservation Centre’s core mandate is
conservation, this cannot take place in a vacuum. Communities impacted by conservation activities
must become part and parcel of the total Conservation efforts. To this end, Scientists studying the
conservation of Fauna and Flora or any other Natural Resources increasingly engage with
Communities that share the relevant Ecosystems with the subjects of Conservation.
The Wildlife Conservation Society
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) was founded in 1895 and has its
headquarters at the Bronx Zoo in New York, USA. WCS works globally to save
wildlife and wild places, and currently manages about 500 conservation
projects in more than 60 countries.
Mission statement: The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We
do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest
system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change
attitudes towards nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is
committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth.
WCS in Tanzania: WCS has been active in Tanzania for nearly 60 years (since 1956), supporting over
140 projects that encompass training, research, monitoring, institutional support, education, and the
gazettement and extension of National Parks and Nature Reserves. WCS employs its traditional
strengths in Tanzania such as a focus on fieldwork, science, and solid community and government
partnerships, and is helping to develop community-based initiatives through which local people will
benefit from key habitats, and thus have an interest in their long-term survival and integrity. WCS is
also committed to supporting government and non-government institutions manage and monitor
key landscapes and species.
The WCS Tanzania Program employs 78 Tanzanian and 3 expatriate staff full-time, with another 15
Tanzanian and 3 expatriates working part-time, and has regional offices in Arusha, Iringa, Mbeya and
Zanzibar. There are currently four site-based landscape projects: the Southern Highlands, the
Tarangire-Simanjiro Ecosystem, the Ruaha Landscape and the Zanzibar Forests. In addition there are
research projects nationwide including in the Serengeti, Rukwa, Udzungwa Mountains and the
Indian Ocean reefs, as well as national programs that focus on wildlife corridors, elephant
conservation management, human-wildlife conflict, remote sensing, geographical information
systems and education. WCS also supports and works alongside the Tanzanian Wildlife Research
Institute (TAWIRI), Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) and the Divisions of Forestry and Beekeeping
(FBD), and Wildlife Division (WD).
21
APPENDIX 4
Workshop Participants
Name Organization Email Address
Peter Kakanyi Afisa Tarafa wa Longido
David Western African Conservation Centre [email protected]
Jim Nyamu African Conservation Centre [email protected]
Lucy Waruingi African Conservation Centre [email protected]
John Salele African Wildlife Foundation [email protected]
Philip Muruthi African Wildlife Foundation [email protected]
Thadeus Binamungu African Wildlife Foundation [email protected]
Benson Leiyan Amboseli Ecosystems Trust [email protected]
Koikai Oloitiptip Amboseli Ecosystems Trust [email protected]
Bernard Tulito Amboseli Scouts Association [email protected]
Cynthia Moss Amboseli Trust for Elephants [email protected]
Soila Sayialel Amboseli Trust for Elephants [email protected]
Luka Olotilimu Orkirarwai Arash, Loliondo [email protected]
Francis Legei Big Life Foundation [email protected]
Joyce Poole Elephant Voices [email protected]
Sabore Ole Moloimet Enduimet WMA [email protected]
William Ole Kuyan Enduimet WMA [email protected]
Joy Juma Fauna & Flora International [email protected]
Joseph Kulunju Friedkin Conservation Fund [email protected]
Keith Roberts Friedkin Conservation Fund [email protected]
Paul Ole Kirimbai Honeyguide Foundation [email protected]
James Isiche International Fund for Animal Welfare [email protected]
Steve Njumbi International Fund for Animal Welfare [email protected]
Diane Skinner International Union for the Conservation of Nature [email protected]
Bernard Ngoru Kenya Wildlife Service [email protected]
Shadrack Ngene Kenya Wildlife Service [email protected]
Jopha Lukumay Lake Natron
Jim Murtaugh Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation [email protected]
Bonaventure Ebayi Lusaka Agreement Task Force [email protected]
Paul Musira Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary [email protected]
Joseph Lomart Narok County [email protected]
Samuel Naikada Narok County [email protected]
Amiyo T Amiyo Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Dr Victor Runyoro Ngorongoro Conservation Area
Lengima Seret Ololosokwan, Loliondo
Krissie Clark PAMS Foundation [email protected]
Wayne Lotter PAMS Foundation [email protected]
Anna Sakellariadis Rapporteur [email protected]
Preetika Bhanderi Rapporteur [email protected]
Festus Ihwagi Save The Elephants [email protected]
Iain Douglas Hamilton Save The Elephants [email protected]
Marc Goss Save The Elephants/Mara Elephant Project [email protected]
22
Anna Estes Serengeti Elephant Project [email protected]
Mbakuli Nasiyianga Sinya, Longido
John Kamanga South Rift Association of Landowners [email protected]
Michael Lenaimado South Rift Association of Landowners [email protected]
Gladis Ng'umbi Tanzania National Parks [email protected]
Inyasi Lejora Tanzania National Parks [email protected]
John Muya Tanzania Wildlife Division [email protected]
Mohammed Madehele Tanzania Wildlife Division [email protected]
Lucas Malugu Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute [email protected]
Julius Keyyu Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute [email protected]
Rose Mosha Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute [email protected]
David Banks The Nature Conservancy [email protected]
Tom Milliken TRAFFIC [email protected]
Fred Parmelo Ujamaa Community Resource Trust [email protected]
Charles Foley Wildlife Conservation Society [email protected]
Lara Foley Wildlife Conservation Society [email protected]
Alfred Kikoti World Elephant Centre
Alex Chang'a World Society for the Protection of Animals [email protected]
Lamine Sebogo World Wildlife Fund [email protected]
Noah Sitati World Wildlife Fund [email protected]
Steve Itela Youth for Conservation [email protected]
23
APPENDIX 5
Workshop Participants Group Photo
24
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks go to LCAOF for funding this cross-border collaboration workshop.
TAWIRI and the Tanzania Government are greatly appreciated for giving their full
support and encouragement to the workshop.
Gratitude is extended to the WCS and ACC organizing teams for setting up this
workshop and putting together this report.
The organizers sincerely thank the stakeholders who participated in the
workshop and pledged their involvement and support in furthering the initiative.
March 23rd, 2012
This document is a compilation of proceedings of the workshop.
Any inquiries should be addressed to:
African Conservation Centre P. O. Box 15289-00509
Nairobi Kenya
Email: [email protected]
