Community Perception on the Impact of Community-Based Wildlife Conservancies on Pasture Resources in the Lake Bogoria Landscape, Kenya

Abstract

Community wildlife conservancies provide vital biodiversity values and ecosystem services that sustain livelihoods in arid and semi-arid lands, as they are habitats for endemic flora and fauna, provide pasture for livestock, and have eco-tourism potential. This study examined the impact of establishment of Kiborgoch, Chuine and Irong’ conservancies on pasture resources for Endorois community’s livestock within the semi-arid Lake Bogoria landscape in Baringo County. The study was conducted from December 2022 to February 2023 and questionnaires were administered to 100 household heads, sampled using stratified sampling technique. Moreover, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were held with officials from the three conservancies and relevant wildlife and livestock authorities. Grass, shrubs and tree leaves constituted pastures. The Spearman’s rank correlation and Pearson’s Chi-square test indicate a weak non-significant relationship between establishment of the community wildlife conservancies and pasture availability, based on communities’ perceptions (ρ = 0.122, p = 0.226; χ² = 3.763, df = 4, p = 0.439). The communities did not feel the impact of conservancies’ establishment on forage availability, attributing this to invasion by Prosopis juliflora and Acacia mellifera and overgrazing within the conservancies. Hence, future studies should apply integrated ecological assessment methods to provide empirical assessments.