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The Laikipia Landscape in Kenya
About Laikipia
Located within the Rift Valley in central Kenya, Laikipia forms part of the Laikipia-Samburu ecosystem and covers an area of around 9,000 km2 of rangeland in the foothills of Mount Kenya. Nationally significant populations of lions, black and white rhino, elephant, African wild dog, Grevy’s zebra, Rüppell’s vultures and a large number of other wildlife species occur outside of officially protected areas alongside traditional and commercial pastoral communities, who rely heavily on livestock to support families. The region comprises a mosaic of many different land use types, including private and community wildlife conservancies, commercial ranches and traditional pastoralists’ community land.
Laikipia is an example of conservation success - many private wildlife conservancies and ranches sustainably raise livestock alongside wildlife densities that rival the best National Parks in the country. However, community lands are under increasing pressure from unsustainable livestock production, degrading rangeland so it is less able to support wild prey, livestock and people, exacerbating climate change and poverty. Conservation success on private conservancies means greater numbers of lions and other large carnivores use adjacent community land, often killing livestock. As livestock sustains families, its loss due to predation compounds environmental issues and results in severe financial hardship. Without immediate help, community livestock owners can retaliate against carnivores, commonly using poisons, which threaten lions and other important wildlife species as well as human and livestock health.
In this landscapes our work focuses on reducing the loss of livestock to predation, stopping the mis-use of poisons in retaliation, increasing community benefits due to large carnivore presence, and helping communities work towards more sustainable livestock production and rangeland regeneration.
