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The WhatsApp message "Do you know these lions?" accompanied by a photo, is not an unusual question. What is unusual is to recognise a lion instantly, and without doubt, by his face. Normally it takes a process of checking and double checking whisker spot patterns, and any other distinguishing marks, before a positive ID is confirmed. But Mini's, which mean 'short ear' in the Maa language, is different. He has a strange and unique face with particularly small ears, and when our partners at Ewaso Lions sent through his photo in July this year, we recognised him instantly. With that recognition, Mini's and his 2 brothers were confirmed to have arrived in Westgate (in Samburu) having left Loisaba Conservancy (in Laikipia) over a year before. The excitement over this news was palpable. As the crow flies, it is not an extraordinary distance - 80 km - a lion could cover that in a few nights. The arrival of these 3 young male lions in Samburu was exciting because it meant that such a journey is still possible - lions can still move between Laikipia conservancies, which support abundant lions, and the community conservancies in Samburu. This 'connectivity' is important for the genetic health of both populations, and for the persistence of lions in community conservancies. Maintaining connectivity in the Ewaso ecosystem is a goal Ewaso Lions and Lion Landscapes share. Growing villages, increasing infrastructure and livestock densities all make dispersal for young lions seeking new territories increasingly difficult. Collar data from lions navigating this landscape help us to identify where passable routes still exist, and target our conservation programmes that facilitate coexistence between people and lions in these areas. Mini's is an unlikely hero. While his two brothers accompanying him are typically big, powerful Laikipia lions, Mini's is smaller than most, and his tiny ears and slightly shorter legs make him look distinctive different. When he was a cub we worried that he might not survive because he looked so small and disadvantaged. We rooted for him but tried not to get too attached, expecting to hear that he had died or been killed by another lion, but instead he survived to make an inspiring journey. Life ahead for these 3 lions will be full of challenges - a coalition of 3 adult male lions is not easy for a pastoral community to coexist with - but right now they are a beacon of hope for lion conservation in the Ewaso ecosystem. Read Ewaso Lions account of this story here . Mini's (left) and one of his two brothers (right) after arriving in Samburu from Laikipia's Loisaba Conservancy. By Ewaso Lions. Stay in touch You can visit our website and keep up to date on our work and research in Africa by subscribing to our general newsletter. Join us on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and LinkedIn for recent photos and stories from the field.

Long term research in Laikipia has shown us that conflict between lions and people can be effectively managed by collaring and monitoring lion movements, and giving livestock owners access to real time lion movement data. This allows livestock owners to be proactive and keep their livestock away from lions, or increase their protection of livestock when close to lions. In January 2020 we decided to collar Felix, one of 5 young males, because we feared that such a big group of young nomadic males would kill livestock in neighbouring communities. Felix with his first collar and with his brother in January 2020, by Boniface Lowoi. However, as illustrated by a random selection of Felix’s movement maps over the last year, Felix and his brothers spend the majority of their time on Loisaba. The rest of the time he stays on other conservancies/wildlife ranches like Kamogi, Suyian, Ol Malo and Tango Maos Ranch. He only occasionally visits neighbouring Morijo, NYS and P&D communities, and there have been no reports of livestock killed during his visits. For a coalition of five adult male lions, Felix and his brothers have caused little trouble! On the early morning of the 22nd Nov 2020 Felix was re-collared as his previous collar stopped working. Heavy fog made the operation more 'atmospheric' than normal, as the team had to be extra alert to the presence of Felix's brothers. When recaptured the old collar showed some damage, which we suspect was caused by another lion. Data from the new collar has allowed our team and the Lion Rangers to monitor Felix and his brothers, checking for unusual movements that may indicate a problem. On the 14th March 2021, Felix's collar showed much less movement than normal and when the Loisaba Lion Rangers checked on him, he was found to be fairly badly injured. Felix’s coalition had been in a territorial dispute with an unknown pride. One of his brothers was also quite badly hurt. Collaring male lions has revealed that they are killed in fights with other male lions more often than we had thought. Felix and his brothers, however, survived to continue ruling their territory. On October the 5th, Felix was checked on by one of the Loisaba Lion Rangers after again receiving warnings from his collar that he was moving more slowly than normal. This time the news was brighter, Felix was mating with a female! Felix's collar has revealed him and his brothers to have settled into being highly functional pride males, defending a large territory, breeding and selecting wild prey over livestock. The map below shows the distinct ranges of current collared lions in Laikipia. Not all prides are collared and so other prides fill the 'gaps'. Five new collars are currently being shipped to Kenya and more collarings scheduled for November. Maps of Felix’s movements since recollaring Stay in touch You can visit our website and keep up to date on our work and research in Africa by subscribing to our general newsletter. Join us on Facebook , Instagram , Twitter and LinkedIn for recent photos and stories from the field.

World Lion Day is a moment for reflecting on lion conservation, which can be sobering. This most iconic species is undergoing decline at an alarming rate. Between 1993 and 2014, monitored lion populations dropped by over 40% with the main threats being habitat loss, prey loss and conflict with local people. Lions have disappeared from over 90% of the areas they used to occur in. Most remaining lion populations are small and isolated, with only six having more than 1000 lions. These challenges should not be underestimated: conserving wide-ranging, dangerous animals is extremely complicated. But there is also much reason for hope. Over this past year, the Ruaha Carnivore Project and Lion Landscapes decided to formally join forces and achieve more successful conservation through collaboration. We are now working together under a new Lion Landscapes organisation that benefits from the collective knowledge and experience of all our teams. Today we unveil our new, blended logo, which reflects the fact that both lions and people, walking together in shared landscapes, are at the heart of everything we do. But our organisation is about far more than just lions, or carnivores – it is about big, amazing, wonderful landscapes which sustain immense biodiversity as well as supporting people. Working across some of the most important remaining lion populations, our Lion Landscapes teams in Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia have developed effective, locally-informed approaches to help tackle major threats to wildlife. ‘ Lion Carbon ’, which we co-developed with BioCarbon Partners , helps incentivise habitat and wildlife conservation while tackling climate change. Our ‘community camera-trapping’ provides meaningful benefits to communities as a direct result of tolerating wildlife. Our ‘Coexistence Co-op’, which we run with The Peregrine Fund , empower communities to better live alongside dangerous wildlife. Local warriors, employed as Lion Defenders, safeguard people and livestock and deter illegal lion hunts. Meanwhile, on the Kenyan conservancies we partner with, Lion Rangers play a vital role in tackling conflict and poaching. Where do we work? Map displaying our locations. Those are just some elements of our collective work, which is showcased in this flyer . We have three 3 core pillars: stopping the loss of wildlife, reducing its local costs, and unlocking the value of conservation. Those pillars are on a foundation of local engagement and strong science, so we can make the best and most appropriate choices. We have seen real success: our work has reduced wildlife killings, helped local people and improved coexistence. And while it takes a large team on the ground, it would be impossible without the support of so many dedicated supporters around the world. So today we want to celebrate working together, thank you all for everything you have helped us achieve and look forward with positivity. Through passion, dedication, collaboration and partnership, we can and will build a better future for lions and for people. Please do take this moment to learn more about what we do , and to support it if you can. Thank you all very much!

After several gruelling days in the field, we are delighted to announce that 104 camera traps across 52 stations have been successfully deployed across the Zambia project areas for a brand new 2021 survey. The project spans Rufunsa Conservancy in the Lower Zambezi REDD+ Project area, and Munyamadzi Game Reserve & Kazumba Game Ranch in the Lower Luangwa Valley. View of the survey areas. Most of the lower Luangwa survey areas and all of Rufunsa are covered with Miombo woodland in hilly terrain. Reaching the sites Rufunsa has 28 stations of two cameras each, taking at least five long days in the field to set up. Many camera stations are over 2km from the nearest road, located in steep terrain. The most gruelling day working in Rufunsa includes a four-hour one-way drive to the western side of the Conservancy, where just two camera stations are deployed. The LLZ field vehicle next to some of the tall grass we have to walk through to access camera survey stations. In the Lower Luangwa Valley, sites are slightly easier to reach, albeit involving 4km treks from the nearest accessible road through 3m tall grass and in some places, deep mud. One camera station needed four hours driving followed by a four-hour walk where we came across a 3m cobra on the path! Deploying cameras at Kazumba requires a 90-minute one-way drive from the Munyamadzi camp, with collection and drop-off of a Kazumba private scout required. Some roads are too rough to navigate, with sticky mud and deep elephant foot holes. The field ecologist Nicky would most days leave camp at 5am to return at 8pm during the 7-day deployment schedule. Thanks to the hard and dedicated work of the field teams, all traps were successfully deployed to schedule ready to collect data! Right to left: Scout Brighton (LZRp training exchange), Nicky and Boniface (Munyamadzi Game Reserve) finishing recording camera station metadata before concluding deployment at this station. Results so far! The first card checks include the first record of wild dogs during the survey, all with full bellies! The female photographed below may be pregnant or have pups at a nearby den, a theory supported by frequent sightings of the pack in the same area over the past few months. Female mentioned in paragraph above; the group are other individuals in same pack. Transect sampling The early dry season distance sampling transects at Munyamadzi took place in the beginning of June a few days after the cameras were deployed. This involved refresher training for seven of the privately employed anti-poaching scouts and initial training for two women who did not make the cut for formal scout training in May. An additional four women were recruited into the teams to help carry equipment and water, all of whom were employed by Munyamadzi to cut grass for the camp roof thatching and were excited to be involved in the biodiversity monitoring activity. One grid cell was not able to be sampled – a first for Munyamadzi – due to closure of the only access road. Despite several dangerous encounters with elephants by the transect teams and deployment vehicles, everyone remained safe and very pleased with their accomplishments. Why do we sample these sites? The goal of the project is to develop a robust biodiversity monitoring system for the Lower Zambezi REDD+ Project area (LZRP) and LCFP, which supports BioCarbon Partner (BCP)’s objective of demonstrating enhanced biodiversity conservation. The camera traps allow us to monitor changes in population densities of key large herbivores, carnivores and Southern Ground Hornbill and to detect changes in population densities for these species within a realistic time frame.

We are delighted to share that two lions, Ronnie and Ian, have successfully been collared on Mpala and Sosian. Prior to collaring, they had attacked and killed numerous livestock on both ranches and local communities, resulting in building anger towards lions in general. Collaring a lion is no easy feat and so this is an incredibly exciting update; we have been playing hide and seek with the elusive Ian for over a year! Read on to discover the field stories from the day and the positive impacts their collarings are already having. The Collaring of Ronnie on Mpala The coalition of Ronnie and his brother Reggie has been hassling the livestock on Mpala and the surrounding communities for a long time. Since September 2020, we know of at least 12 cattle and calves (including a breeding bull) and 4 sheep who were killed by them. It is possible they were also the cause of the incident last August when a lion became trapped in a boma (livestock enclosure) and killed 34 sheep. There are likely more livestock killed by these lions that have not been reported; the loss has already cost thousands of US dollars and is a significant amount for livestock owners in Kenya to bare. To prevent further human-wildlife conflict (HWC) and safeguard the lions from retaliatory killing, Mpala were granted permission by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to dart and collar, with the collar provided by Lion Landscapes. After waiting for the perfect moment for weeks, on the 3rd of May, they struck again on Mpala and killed a community member's camel. As a dead camel meant the lions might stay in one place long enough to get the teams together, this was our perfect opportunity to get the collaring done! Out of the two males, we chose to dart and collar Ronnie as he had a slight injury on one of his legs, so we could check the injury and collar him at the same time (although no intervention was required as it was just a sprain). Thanks to the excellent collaboration with Kenya Wildlife Service and Mpala, it was an extremely easy and successful collaring. Dr. Dominic Mijele and his team from KWS first darted Ronnie with a perfect shot. Lion Landscapes worked alongside Mpala and their excellent research team at the scene to coordinate the capture. After recording his details and weight, Mpala were able to keep an eye on Ronnie post collating to make sure he was protected until he had completely recovered from the drugs. The Collaring of Ronnie. Photo by Tim Collins. Since the collaring, Mpala Research Centre and Wildlife Foundation have been continually monitoring Ronnie, using the mobile tracking app, and the two brothers have been doing very well. In the 2-weeks since Ronnie’s collaring, two potential HWC incidents have been averted using the GPS movement data. Last Sunday, the pair moved into a point that intersected with the route cattle use to go to a dam to drink. With that information, Mpala were able to warn the herders and have vehicles move through the area to chase the lions away before cattle arrived. Without the collar, the lions would have almost certainly attempted to attack one of the herds, as ambushing animals as they come to drink is a classic lion hunting strategy. Saving just 1 adult cow has huge impacts, with a cash value of ksh 60,000 ($550) each. Ronnie waking up after the collaring. Photo by Tim Collins. Map showing Ronnie's most recent movements. The Collaring of Ian on Sosian In memory of conservation hero Ian Lemayan. Ian and Jasiri are another coalition of notorious livestock killers living in close proximity to people on ranches and within communities. The pair are true escape artists; slightly aggressive, extremely shy and very cunning. Over the course of the year, we have found them many times and been prepared to collar, only for them to disappear before a vet could be mobilised. There has been a lot of effort and resources used to collar one of these males. Besides Kenya Wildlife Service who is responsible for the collaring, it has taken two Lion Ranger teams (Sosian and Ol Maisor), plus Lion Landscapes’ Thomas Mojong working together to achieve this. The teams searching for Ian and Jasiri. Photo by Tim Collins. For once, all the stars aligned. After a 13 hour day, traversing through extremely tricky terrain of thick bush and rocks, and moving from one ranch to another, we finally managed to catch and collar one of the two males. He has since been named by Sosian’s donor as ‘Ian’ in memory of the late conservation hero Ian Lemayan. Captain Ian Lemaiyan sadly passed away in February after the aircraft he was piloting crashed in Nanyuki. Lion Ian before collaring. Photo by Tim Collins Collaring Ian would have not been possible without the true determination displayed by Dr Michael Njoroge and his team, who travelled from Samuru to Sosian at 4am after working late the previous day to save an elephant. They spent the whole day trying to dart Ian, eventually managing to dart him at 6:46pm, and moved on the next morning to help rescue a grevy’s zebra. We are incredibly thankful for all the dedication and continued hard work from KWS, Sosian, Mpala and all of our partners on the ground. Ian's recent movements on Ol Maisor Understanding the behavioural ecology and demography of lions Collaring lions is important for protecting livestock from lions, and preventing the retaliatory killing of lions. It is also important because it helps us to try and understand the behavioural ecology and demography of lions in the area. Collaring is not a solution on its own, however. Our teams continue to work hard on a daily basis to monitor lions using the collars, better protect livestock and mitigate conflict. To learn more about our research projects on young adult dispersal and energetics living in human-dominated landscapes, visit our Research page. Lion Landscapes. Stop the Loss. Reduce the Cost. Unlock the Value.

Lion Landscapes CEOs Amy and Alayne recently visited Mark Adlington's exhibition at the John Martin Gallery London and were blown away by his evocative paintings. “Lion”, showing until the 28th of May, is the result of a three-year project by artist Mark Adlington to study wild lions in six different habitats across Africa. Every painting stimulates stories and intimate details from the many cumulative hours spent in the presence of lions, from the way they twitch their tails in different moods to bending their front paws inwards just before placing them on the ground. The magnificent exhibition is being held in collaboration with Pride Lion Conservation Alliance, with 10% of all proceeds from any sales directly supporting Pride and Lion Landscapes. If you cannot visit in person, we strongly recommend a visit to the online viewing room, to soak up some of Lion's essence. Read on to explore more through our exclusive interview with the artist. Lion Landscapes CEO's Amy and Alayne visiting ‘Lion’. Q. You have captured the essence of the lion really well (and that is coming from lion behavioural ecologists). Is it spending time with the animals themselves that allows you to do that? Where did you do your field research? Mark: Firstly thank you - really the best compliment I could receive! I have (reluctantly) used animals in wildlife parks in the past where necessary, but with this project, I made a decision from the beginning that I only wanted to draw wild lions. The captive lions in northern zoos had an overweight shaggy feel that failed to inspire me. I was lucky enough to make six separate trips to Kenya and Namibia, helped enormously by conservationists in both countries who have since become friends. Every place that I visited brought different lions, different landscapes, different light and different conditions - which is interestingly apparent in the finished paintings. In some places (Etosha) for example, you can only observe from the road, but then you also have the luxury of driving yourself and therefore putting in 12 hour days where necessary. In other places, I could watch them at night, or on foot. For me spending time with the animals was totally essential. I can honestly say that I learned something new from every single encounter - though this does leave you with a horrible awareness of just how much you don’t know! "For me, spending time with the (wild) animals was totally essential." - Mark Adlington Q. Were there any particularly powerful moments during your field research (or afterwards) that really influenced your paintings that you would like to share with us? Mark: As a painter it can often be strangely abstract visual things that really hit you - the surprising beauty of a carcass in the evening light, the pink curl of a lion’s tongue when grooming, or the way the myriad khakis of grasses blend into a lion’s coat. I once watched a small pride coming across a tortoise and using it as a football for half an hour. The big Male cuffed it about a couple of times then gave up, but the lioness was hugely athletic and knocked it about for far longer as if to try and teach her only cub, who then tried to emulate her before sitting on the tortoise for a long time before losing interest. I often found that subadults, particularly young males, just on the verge of being kicked out of the pride, were the most interested in me, as if looking for distraction while sitting out the long day and waiting for their free meal to arrive with their mother. Cubs playing are obviously endlessly entertaining and charming to watch, though that also gave me enormous respect and admiration for the wisdom and patience of their mothers. I only ever witnessed one successful hunt, in the Mara but have also seen how opportunistic lions can be, stealing an impala from hyaenas, and freezing, grandmother's footsteps style when stray game presents itself. Q. What was the most difficult and wonderful thing about painting lions (as opposed to other species)? Mark: I suppose the most frustrating aspect of the research element in this project was the famous 16-20 hours of sleep that lions can luxuriate in. To watch the golden hour casting magic over the landscape hoping that the lions will become active, only to see them begin to move the second the sun has truly disappeared. On the plus side, the powerfully fluid muscularity of wild lions meant that any simple action - sitting up, grooming, rolling over - presented me with an inspiring subject. And while the hypnotic charisma of their inscrutable stare is irresistible, three of my favourite paintings in the show, show lions turning away forcing the viewer to focus on the amazing structure of their bodies. The shapes of a lion, lion lines as I thought of them, are subtle and specific and more elusive than more eccentrically designed mammals like rhinos or elephants, and in the case of male lions, a lot of the structure is hidden in that famous hairdo. As someone who has always suffered from back issues, the incredible flexibility of a lion’s spine was a great inspiration through the amazing variety of poses they can adopt. Q. What made you decide to do a whole exhibition on lions? Mark: I have always tended to work with shamanistic intensity on one species at a time, but clearly tackling what must be the most iconic species in the world takes a bit of guts! I found the millennia of lion images from around the world rather overwhelming, but the more I got into the project, the more fascinating it became to see where even heraldic or highly stylised lions in art originated. I even began to understand that the numerous myths (Androcles/ Saint Jerome) could well have had their origins in real stories when I saw how relatively quickly wild lions that were not threatened became used to me over even a period of weeks. My ambition was to produce artwork which had observation and experience of wild lions as its absolute starting point but went beyond the normal confines of “safari art” in its execution. Q. What made you want to support Pride? "I knew I was watching and drawing lions in places that had come perilously close to losing them altogether in the recent past" - Mark Adlington Mark: I had first-hand knowledge of two of the organisations within the Pride umbrella, as I worked in the Chyulu hills and at Loisaba where Lion Guardians and Lion Landscapes have had such success in making it possible for people to live and work alongside lions with the minimal possible friction. And knew that I was watching and drawing lions in places that had come perilously close to losing them altogether in the recent past. I then heard about the Tusk Conservation lecture in London’s Royal Geographical society and went along. The talk given by Dr. Amy Dickman and Dr. Alayne Cotteril was hugely inspiring. Quite aside from the wealth of experience and pragmatic imaginative, multi-faceted conservation action, I found the whole concept of sharing experience, successes, failures, and even funding across borders and organisations obvious and ground breaking in equal measure. I am based in central London for much of the year, where I struggle (no really!) with pigeons and grey squirrels. We are asking local communities in African countries to live alongside lions. This is not an easy ask but if anyone can find a solution which provides a realistic future for these magnificent and most charismatic cats, I feel the Pride Lion Conservation Alliance can. It was a no brainer. Ten percent of the proceeds from any sales goes to supporting the Pride Lion Conservation Alliance.

Directly Linking Wildlife Presence with Community Benefits Living alongside large carnivores can be a scary and costly reality; imagine if your garden foxes were replaced with Africa’s top predators. Lions can sometimes attack both humans and the livestock they rely on, which can lead to the retaliatory killing of endangered species. Our programmes, including anti-poisoning training and boma reinforcement, have significantly reduced this potential conflict. However, people will never want to keep wildlife around just because the risks have been reduced. 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. This is why our conservation approach has three main pillars: Stop the Loss, Reduce the Cost, and Unlock the Value of living with lions and other large carnivores. ​ How do we Unlock the Value? Community Camera Trapping One way of unlocking the value of lions and other carnivores is our innovative Community Camera Trapping (CCT) programme. This directly links the presence of wildlife on village land to tangible community benefits. Villagers monitor their own wildlife populations through camera traps, and villages with more wildlife receive the most additional benefits. The initiative first started in Ruaha, as part of our joint-CEO Dr. Amy Dickman’s Ruaha Carnivore Project (RCP). Instead of researchers setting out camera-traps on village land, local villagers were trained and employed to do it. Two CCT officers from each village are equipped with camera-traps, bikes and GPS units. The CCT officers are selected by the village themselves and thus know the best areas for wildlife on village land. Every image of a wild animal captured generates a certain number of points, depending on the likely conflict risk and endangerment of the species. A lion generates 15,000 points and an endangered African wild dog is the most valuable at 20,000 points. Villages then compete against each other in groups of four on a quarterly basis to see who can generate the most points. All villages receive some benefits, but the winning gains ~US$2000 worth of additional community benefits, with the second third and fourth receiving $1500, $1000 and $500 respectively. The villages are grouped based on criteria such as proximity to the national park boundary and abundance of wildlife so each village has a chance to win within their group. At the end of the quarter, villagers all get together to celebrate and benefits are distributed. The images are shown to all villagers so they can see the wildlife that has been photographed on their land which ensures they understand the connection between the benefits and the presence of wildlife. Recent CCT captures in Idodi, Tanzania: Collared Lion 30,000 points (base 15,000 x 2 because of the collar). Leopard 15,000 points. Who decides on the benefits? It is vital that any community benefit initiatives actually address the needs and wants of the relevant people, and that people recognise that it is the wildlife (rather than the project) which is generating these benefits. To determine the best benefit initiatives, RCP had the villagers vote at community meetings, and they selected three top priorities: Better education for their children Better access to improved healthcare Access to good quality veterinary medicines However, these needs are constantly changing and we frequently hold meetings with villages to understand how we can improve. We recently received feedback that the youth felt neglected. Young men in our RCP work area are often a "forgotten" group and can easily get involved in an illicit activity such as poaching. In order to engage and support them we have modified our Community Camera Trap agreement and now include a special fund for the youth. The first purchase for nearly every village youth group was football related! We look forward to continuing to engage the youth across our landscape. Youth in Tanzania with new football equipment supported by the RCP CCT programme. Expanding Out: CCT Pilot in Lower Luangwa Given the success of the CCT in Ruaha, the programme is currently being piloted in another of Lion Landscapes’ study areas: Lower Luangwa, Zambia. Large areas of the Luangwa Valley are part of Lion Carbon. Participant villages in this pilot include the Chalubilo Village Complex & January Village Complex. The camera trap scheme will award communities with direct benefits (in the form of items purchased for households or community projects), based on the amount and type of wildlife recorded on camera traps placed within community managed areas. This should provide a very clear and visual link between wildlife presence in the village area and community benefits. As in Ruaha, Vulnerable species will earn communities more points, enabling the targeting of High Conservation Value species for both wildlife monitoring and community engagement purposes. Benefit funds are mostly spent on agriculture/food security (hoes, maize seed), health care (maternity, neonatal) and education (student stationery). The CCT has captured some incredible wildlife so far, including servals, wild dogs and elephants! Serval on the CCT, generating 5000 points. Three African Wild Dogs at 20,000 points each, providing 60,000 points for Luangwa! Elephant on the CCT, earning 15,000 points for Luangwa. Elephants offer a large number of points because they are costly to live alongside, damaging crops. Young Herders checking out the Community Camera Trap in the January Village Complex, Luangwa. Future Plans CCT has been highly successful, directly engaging and training local people in wildlife monitoring on their land, whilst providing an extremely clear link between wildlife presence and the provision of local benefits. In Ruaha, whole villages have imposed community bans on lion and elephant hunting which both used to be rewarded. This is a huge transition and demonstrates that communities can change quickly if they see a reason to do so. Ultimately, Lion Landscapes has goals to expand this CCT programme further across Tanzania, the Luangwa and Luano Valleys and implement it in Laikipia, Kenya. Lion Landscapes. Stop the Loss. Reduce the Cost. Unlock the Value.

Happy Earth Day! Today we celebrate positive climate action to protect our Earth. Lion Landscapes has recently committed to being 100% Climate Positive using Lion Carbon, an innovative carbon offsetting model developed by BioCarbon Partners (BCP) in partnership with Lion Landscapes. Since our announcement, we have received lots of questions about how the Lion Carbon REDD+ model works and thought that Earth Day would be a great time to answer your queries! Q: What does REDD+ mean? A: REDD stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation. It is a UN Climate Change mitigation strategy, based on the principle that carbon will be locked up in protected forests instead of being released into the atmosphere. Currently, deforestation alone is responsible for up to 20% of greenhouse gas emissions. The additional “+” in REDD+ is added for the conservation of existing forest carbon stocks, sustainable forest management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. Q: Is offsetting really the solution to Climate Change? A: Offsetting provides a mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the most cost-effective and economically efficient manner. Offsetting therefore plays a vital role in combating climate change, but if done in isolation is definitely not the solution. Before offsetting is considered, initial emissions must be reduced as much as possible to then offset those remaining unavoidable emissions. Q: How do you make sure all communities are fully involved in forest selection? A: Reducing deforestation can never be successfully or fairly achieved if communities are not leading the decision making themselves. In the Lion Carbon model, planning and implementation of forest management is all community led through Community Resource Boards. Teams are built internally from within local communities to protect and monitor their own forests, with support from BCP, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, and Lion Landscapes. As expected, engaging all communities has been no easy feat, involving a long process run by BCP starting in 2012. BCP follows internationally recognised standards of obtaining “Free, Prior, and Informed Consent” in order to work with communities to protect forests through 30-year agreements. In this case, BCP not only ensures that communities understand and agree to a REDD+ forest protection project, but that they are front and central to the development and implementation of that project. BCP CEO Dr Hassan Sachedina has recorded a podcast that you can listen to for more information on this story. Q: How are the offsets ‘Certified’? A: Like all of BCP’s offsets, all Lion Carbon offsets are verified by The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS). VCS is the world’s most highly regarded and recognised independent authority on verified carbon projects. BCP is rated the most impactful REDD+ developer in the world, as the first to receive five consecutive verifications and Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Triple Gold status for exceptional community impacts. These standards also verify that our carbon offsets are real, rigorously and scientifically measured, and benefit local communities, forests, and biodiversity. Q: How are the offsets monitored? A: The Forest Monitoring Team is a select group of 4 from the local community who have been trained to collect data on biomass, illegal logging, wildlife and soils on the ground. They work with the Community Scouts and the Carbon Accounting team using GPS technology and satellite imagery to identify areas affected by deforestation and encroachment. They also use a smartphone application (spatial monitoring and reporting tool - SMART) to collect forest carbon data and to record and track wildlife sightings of key species such as lions, ground hornbills and wild dogs, and any illegal activity encountered. This contributes to our wider biodiversity monitoring efforts in the area, which monitors the trends in number and distribution of wildlife species in REDD+ forests. An estimated 512 million trees are monitored. Q: How is revenue invested back in the community? A: Revenue from the sale of all BCP's carbon offsets is invested back into communities in multiple ways. Revenue helps to build local capacity to protect and sustainably manage natural resources. This ensures communities have access to these essential natural resources for years to come, and helps secure a future for other wildlife related income such as tourism. Income from carbon also creates a more prosperous future through directly supporting sustainable livelihoods and enterprises, and improved access to social services such as education, healthcare and clean water. Revenue is also given as direct payments; since 2020-2021, direct benefits of over $4 million have been paid to over 220,000 households. Q: BCP sells different types of offsets, how is Lion Carbon different? A: Lion Carbon is a premium offset. When you purchase Lion Carbon, additional revenue is invested into conservation activities that monitor, protect and regenerate lions and other wildlife species. REDD+ income is based on the conservation of trees. Although the habitat protection this provides is enough to ensure the survival of many species living in these forests, additional conservation activities are needed to ensure the survival of many others. Lion is the perfect umbrella species for this additional conservation work because they face a wide range of threats, loss of habitat being just one. Healthy lion populations indicate other major threats to wildlife, such as poaching and conflict with people over loss of livestock and life, which have also been successfully addressed. This is why our goal is to ensure REDD+ forests can support lions as well as wider biodiversity and people. There are 3 pillars of community-based activities that ensure a future for wildlife in REDD+ forests: Security - Protect existing wildlife biodiversity through anti-poaching activities Regeneration - Increase wildlife biodiversity through active reintroductions Monitoring - To inform the adaptive management of all wildlife conservation efforts Offsetting with Lion Carbon therefore means you are protecting not just our planet and supporting local Zambian communities, but also directly protecting threatened or endangered wildlife. There is a clear link between protecting forests through Lion Carbon, working with communities, and the increase of wildlife; 2020 was a year of zero encroachment for the REDD + Project in Lower Zambezi! A total of over 1 million hectares of forest have been protected from 2020-2021. Two lions on Camera Trap in the forest of Luangwa, Zambia. Zambia has one of the largest wild lion populations and the Luangwa Valley Ecosystem is a lion stronghold. Q: Is Lion Carbon just for businesses? A: We encourage businesses and organisations like us to offset using Lion Carbon. Individuals can also offset using Lion Carbon themselves. Q: How can I offset using Lion Carbon as an individual? What is your expected price per credit? Lion Landscapes Volunteer Joni Oberbosch offsets her personal emissions using Lion Carbon, here is how: "We have invested in solar panels and other emission-reductions, but I can't get my footprint down to zero. I first calculated my footprint using an online calculator, doubled the amount because I want to be 100% climate positive and then subscribed to buy offsets on BCPs website. BCP follows up with an email and I then asked through email to upgrade to Lion Carbon. Lion Carbon will be available to purchase directly on BCP's new website soon." "I'm offsetting 4 tonnes per month for USD50." Do a ton of good this Earth Day by supporting this initiative and offsetting your emissions using Lion Carbon!

“Our house is on fire.” Those were the words of climate activist Greta Thunberg in 2019, imploring all of us to do far more to address the existential threat posed by climate change. Her powerful words underlined the urgency of action and made many of us wonder what we could do to build a better future. In 2020, the Living Planet Report provided more grim warnings, this time around biodiversity loss. It revealed that on average, vertebrate population sizes had crashed by over two-thirds since 1970 – a staggering decline within many of our lifetimes. The primary driver was destruction and conversion of natural habitat. This mirrors what we see for lions: their numbers have nearly halved in 20 years, restricted to increasingly small and fragmented populations, with habitat loss the most important threat. To address the intertwined threats of climate change and biodiversity loss we need to safeguard natural habitat, which stores carbon, supports incredible biodiversity, and ultimately underpins the health of our global society. Natural resources are particularly important for the world’s most vulnerable people, who could sustainably use them as a way out of poverty. But currently economic incentives, at both the local and global level, tend to reward habitat destruction rather than protection. This must change. The scale of the challenge can seem overwhelming, but it is up to us to change the future. Firstly, we must reduce over-consumption. On our part, we have focused on being energy efficient, cutting charcoal use (a local driver of habitat destruction) and limiting our flights. Our field camps are very low impact, usually off-grid and powered by solar panels. Reduction is the first step towards limiting our environmental impact, but we must go further. We are therefore thrilled to announce that we have now gone 100% ‘climate positive’, using the groundbreaking ‘Lion Carbon’ model to offset double our carbon emissions annually. Lion Carbon is an innovative premium carbon offset that simultaneously addresses climate change, landscape-level biodiversity conservation and local empowerment. It has been developed with BioCarbon Partners (BCP), one of Africa’s leading forest carbon offset developers, based on their REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) approach. BCP works in partnership with the Zambian Government and local communities to conserve forests under 30-year agreements. The value of carbon secured in those forests is calculated using the highest Verified Carbon Standards, and sold to companies and organisations who want to offset their own emissions. This is generating a new and highly valuable income stream for sustainable development and forest conservation, which is particularly important since COVID-19 revealed the fragility of relying on external users such as tourists. BCP’s gold-standard carbon offsetting has already had impressive results. It has protected over half a billion trees across a million hectares of community forest, and is reducing emissions equivalent to 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. That is the same as removing around 290,000 cars from the road a year. In 2020-2021, BCP’s REDD+ programmes generated over US$4 million in direct payments to 12 chiefdoms for the protection of wildlife habitat, improving the lives of over a quarter of a million people. This makes BCP’s REDD+ projects the biggest in the world in terms of community beneficiaries. Providing fresh water, community benefits and sustainable conservation agriculture techniques. Photo credit: BioCarbon Partners But carbon offsets could conceivably lead to ‘empty forests’, with incentives to secure carbon but not biodiversity. To address this, wildlife conservation is a key component of the Lion Carbon model, with BCP working closely with government departments, local communities and Lion Landscapes to monitor, conserve and help regenerate wildlife in the community forests, with a particular focus on lions as flagship species. Lion Carbon activities are helping safeguard a vast biodiversity corridor in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, connecting Four Key Landscapes for Conservation and regenerating wildlife populations in some of the most important lion range left on the planet. Additionally, a small percentage of the revenue from Lion Carbon helps fund our wider work to conserve lions in key landscapes across Africa. Investing in Lion Carbon means that people and organisations can offset their carbon, helping limit climate change, secure lions and other biodiversity, and generate a reliable income stream for local people. But rather than just ask others to invest in Lion Carbon, we decided that we should lead by example and do it ourselves. We are therefore exited that as of this International Day of Forests, Lion Landscapes is now 100% ‘climate positive’, using Lion Carbon to offset double our annual carbon emissions. We are the first conservation organisation to do so, but hope we will be the first of many. The 2020 Living Planet Report highlighted that ‘World leaders must take urgent action to protect and restore nature as the foundation for a healthy society and a thriving economy.’ We agree, but such action should not be restricted world leaders. Every one of us, including individuals, grassroots organisations, large NGOs and businesses, can and should take urgent action. Lion Landscapes’ role in the development of Lion Carbon, and our move to ‘100% climate positivity’, are important steps towards our vision of fighting climate change by helping to build vast healthy ecosystems with thriving human communities and biodiversity, including the African lion. Climate change is a global problem that requires individual action. Every person reading has the power to do a ton of good for our planet and each other. If you are thinking of offsetting your own Carbon footprint, consider using Lion Carbon for our planet and wildlife. Happy International Day of Forests! Lion Carbon Funding The Lion Carbon conservation activities have so far been supported by The Darwin Initiative, University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, the Lion Recovery Fund and National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative. Revenue from the sale of Premium Lion Carbon offsets will gradually decrease dependency on donor funds and make these wildlife conservation activities sustainable.

Are you Crazy for Cubs? Read on to learn more about their behaviour, how collaring for coexistence supports them and finally, our brand new Kids for Cubs clothing! Growing up in a lion pride Lion Cubs are some of the cutest residents we know, but how much do you know about their lives, growing up from tiny fur balls into the healthy subadults we see roaming the field? Well, let’s start at the very beginning! Following a gestation period of around four months, a pregnant lioness will leave her pride and retreat into a thick impenetrable habitat to give birth. Here, she keeps her vulnerable cubs safely hidden for up to six weeks before they are introduced to the rest of the pride. Newborn Lion hiding in the bushes, by Antonia Leckie. Lion cubs are born with blue eyes that slowly turn to amber. Upon arrival, other lactating females in a pride are very welcoming to newcomers; they will suckle each other's cubs regularly for the first 6-7 months, showing no favouritism for their own offspring. This generosity may seem strange, but as lionesses in the pride are highly related, each female enhances the survival of her own genes by helping to raise her relative's offspring. This communal suckling behaviour has therefore been selected over time as it increases the chance that an individual lions’ genes will be passed on to the next generation. Related adult females within a pride tend to give birth at similar times, with adults synchronising their fertility cycles so that they can all raise their young together. Mothers can therefore rely on one another to suckle and protect the young. Predation is a big threat to vulnerable newborns, but there is safety in numbers; there are so many cubs a predator can eat at one time! Even still, over half of African lion cubs don’t make it past their first year. When young male lions take over a pride, they will challenge another male for control and kill all the cubs, bringing the females into estrus again and maintaining the synchronisation. Whilst growing up in the protection of the maternal pride, lion cubs spend most of their day playing, wrestling and stalking each other through the landscape. Although it may sound like fun and games, this play is vital to help them develop the hunting skills that they will need later in life to support themselves and their future pride. As they grow bigger and stronger, these skills are further developed through joining their mother for hunting trips. Lion cubs wrestling under the protection of their maternal pride. This behaviour is vital to allow the effective development of hunting skills. As cubs age into adolescents, females tend to stay in their natal range, only leaving the pride if there is a short supply of food. In contrast, once subadult males reach around 3 years, they will spend more and more time away from their maternal pride, eventually leaving to find territories of their own. These males will have a much better chance of survival if they can stick together in groups called coalitions during this difficult dispersal period when they will have to avoid areas where they are not wanted by people, and territorial male lions wherever lions are still tolerated. Lion cubs with their mothers, by Chege Amos at Loisaba. Related adult females within a pride tend to give birth at similar times. Collaring for coexistence Livestock raised across Laikipia can occasionally become an easy prey target for wild lions on the hunt for food; if they gain entrance to traditional bomas they can predate on large numbers. Collaring for Coexistence is one of the pillars of the Coexistence coop programme, that Lion Landscapes run together with The Peregrine Fund to help halt the decline of lion populations. We deploy and manage specialized lion GPS collars that send us hourly locations for the lions; in each monitored pride one adult lioness is collared, and one adult male in each male coalition. Access to this lion movement data is given to livestock owners via a user-friendly app developed by Save The Elephants Kenya that maps the lion locations on google earth. Even if livestock owners don’t have the same technology as all of us, almost all of them have access to smartphones and a cell network. The information on lion locations can provide livestock owners with a warning if an individual is nearby, allowing them enough time to scare the individual away and keep their livestock safe. Scaring the lions away with much noise and disturbance is necessary to teach the lions that this area is best avoided in future. Reducing livestock depredation in this way minimises potential retaliatory poisoning events, supporting lion populations to reproduce and stay alive to care for their cubs. Lioness Labai, collared in 2018 with her 6-month-old cub. 2 years ago, Labai was sadly lost in a snare for bushmeat. Losing a lion in a snare is thankfully a rare event in Laikipia due to collective efforts of landowners, managers and conservation organisations but Labai's death highlights the importance of continued anti-poaching efforts in the area. Collared lioness Dawn’s cubs at Sosian Lodge. Kids for Cubs - Shop for your own little cubs and support real-life conservation Here at Lion Landscapes, we are excited to announce the launch of our new shop shipping to the UK and Europe, where supporters can buy a range of organic and sustainable products for their own little cubs! The perfect birthday present or baby shower gift for any nature and animal lover in the making. All proceeds from every sale go straight to our conservation programmes in the field, supporting real-life conservation efforts to help to save vulnerable African lions whilst protecting community livelihoods in Africa. And you don’t need to be jealous of your little ones for too long... adult products are also on the way, along with a US shop! Organic Baby Contrasting Bodysuit made from 100% organic cotton. Organic Baby and Kids T-shirts Lion Landscapes accessories, perfect for any little adventurer! We remain extremely grateful to The Nature Conservancy, Tusk Trust, Will’s Africa Fund, the Kenya Wildlife Service, and our many crowd donors for supporting the work we do, enabling us to better monitor and protect the lion populations of Laikipia.