Building a better future for people and wildlife through collaborative conservation

Research & Monitoring

Understanding the challenges large carnivores face living in landscapes shared with humans and their livestock is crucial to provide data for future conservation planning. In collaboration with academic institutions and fellow lion conservation organisations, we conduct extensive field research to help provide data for effective carnivore conservation and management in important lion landscapes. We collect long-term data-sets to monitor key populations and dynamics on the landscape, and the effectiveness of our conservation activities using collar data, camera trapping images, formal surveys and SMART data collection by the Lion Rangers, Lion Defenders or Community Scouts. We also use data sharing to actively protect local livelihoods, by providing local livestock owners with real-time lion movement data via a mobile phone app so that they can avoid encounters.

Education, training and wildlife management capacity building

Many of our programmes work to build local capacity to address the main conservation challenges threatening lion landscapes. In all sites, we provide training and education programmes, equipment and management support to locally based rangers or community members, that allows them to reduce human-wildlife conflict, protect local livelihoods and sustainably manage their natural resources e.g. Community Coexistence Training, Lion Rangers, Lion Defenders.

We also provide scholarship and mentorship programmes to ensure young Africans receive the education and support they need to be able to succeed in conservation careers.

Conservation Enterprise development

To secure lions and other large carnivores in the wild, we must make their conservation valuable to the people who share the landscape with them.

We develop new wildlife-based income streams in partnership with other parties that complement traditional sources of funding such as philanthropy and wildlife tourism. For example in Zambia we have partnered with BioCarbon Partners to develop Lion Carbon - a scalable and sustainable biodiversity conservation model, which links payment to local communities to long-term wildlife and habitat protection agreements. In Kenya we are working with Livestock owners to develop criteria and markets for Lion Friendly Beef. Diversification of income streams linked to the conservation of carnivores and other wildlife, builds resilience into lion landscapes.

Community conservation agreements / benefit sharing.

For long-term conservation - and for the welfare of local communities - it is vital that wildlife becomes a true asset to the people who live alongside it. We have developed benefit sharing programmes that link benefits that local communities want (e.g. education, veterinary care, boma building materials etc) to wildlife conservation agreements which reward positive conservation behaviours (and penalise damaging ones). For example our Community Camera Trapping/Wildlife Bednights programme and role in developing the BaoTree platform. Linking benefits to the active conservation of wildlife by local communities incentivises positive behaviour changes that benefit biodiversity and the community as a whole.