Extreme wildlife declines and concurrent increase in livestock numbers in Kenya: What are the causes?

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cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and developing country instituteen_US
cg.authorship.typesCGIAR and advanced research instituteen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversität Hohenheimen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationInternational Livestock Research Instituteen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationKenya Markets Trusten_US
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversity of Nairobien_US
cg.contributor.affiliationDirectorate of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensingen_US
cg.contributor.affiliationNorthern Rangelands Trust, Kenyaen_US
cg.contributor.crpDryland Systemsen_US
cg.contributor.donorDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaften_US
cg.contributor.donorEuropean Unionen_US
cg.coverage.countryKenyaen_US
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2KEen_US
cg.coverage.regionAfricaen_US
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africaen_US
cg.creator.identifierMohammed Yahya Said: 0000-0001-8127-6399en_US
cg.howPublishedFormally Publisheden_US
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163249en_US
cg.isijournalISI Journalen_US
cg.issn1932-6203en_US
cg.issue9en_US
cg.journalPLOS ONEen_US
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen_US
cg.subject.ilriENVIRONMENTen_US
cg.subject.ilriLIVESTOCKen_US
cg.subject.ilriWILDLIFEen_US
cg.subject.ilriRANGELANDSen_US
cg.volume11en_US
dc.contributor.authorOgutu, Joseph O.en_US
dc.contributor.authorPiepho, Hans-Peteren_US
dc.contributor.authorSaid, Mohammed Yahyaen_US
dc.contributor.authorOjwang, G.O.en_US
dc.contributor.authorNjino, L.W.en_US
dc.contributor.authorKifugo, S.C.en_US
dc.contributor.authorWargute, P.W.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2016-11-10T15:13:21Zen_US
dc.date.available2016-11-10T15:13:21Zen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/77705en_US
dc.titleExtreme wildlife declines and concurrent increase in livestock numbers in Kenya: What are the causes?en_US
dcterms.abstractThere is growing evidence of escalating wildlife losses worldwide. Extreme wildlife losses have recently been documented for large parts of Africa, including western, Central and Eastern Africa. Here, we report extreme declines in wildlife and contemporaneous increase in livestock numbers in Kenya rangelands between 1977 and 2016. Our analysis uses systematic aerial monitoring survey data collected in rangelands that collectively cover 88% of Kenya’s land surface. Our results show that wildlife numbers declined on average by 68% between 1977 and 2016. The magnitude of decline varied among species but was most extreme (72–88%) and now severely threatens the population viability and persistence of warthog, lesser kudu, Thomson’s gazelle, eland, oryx, topi, hartebeest, impala, Grevy’s zebra and waterbuck in Kenya’s rangelands. The declines were widespread and occurred in most of the 21 rangeland counties. Likewise to wildlife, cattle numbers decreased (25.2%) but numbers of sheep and goats (76.3%), camels (13.1%) and donkeys (6.7%) evidently increased in the same period. As a result, livestock biomass was 8.1 times greater than that of wildlife in 2011–2013 compared to 3.5 times in 1977–1980. Most of Kenya’s wildlife (ca. 30%) occurred in Narok County alone. The proportion of the total “national” wildlife population found in each county increased between 1977 and 2016 substantially only in Taita Taveta and Laikipia but marginally in Garissa and Wajir counties, largely reflecting greater wildlife losses elsewhere. The declines raise very grave concerns about the future of wildlife, the effectiveness of wildlife conservation policies, strategies and practices in Kenya. Causes of the wildlife declines include exponential human population growth, increasing livestock numbers, declining rainfall and a striking rise in temperatures but the fundamental cause seems to be policy, institutional and market failures. Accordingly, we thoroughly evaluate wildlife conservation policy in Kenya. We suggest policy, institutional and management interventions likely to succeed in reducing the declines and restoring rangeland health, most notably through strengthening and investing in community and private wildlife conservancies in the rangelands.en_US
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Accessen_US
dcterms.audienceScientistsen_US
dcterms.available2016-09-27en_US
dcterms.bibliographicCitationOgutu, J.O., Piepho, H.-P., Said, M.Y., Ojwang, G.O., Njino, L.W., Kifugo, S.C. and Wargute, P.W. 2016. Extreme wildlife declines and concurrent increase in livestock numbers in Kenya: What are the causes? PLOS ONE 11(9): e0163249.en_US
dcterms.issued2016-09-27en_US
dcterms.languageenen_US
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0en_US
dcterms.publisherPublic Library of Scienceen_US
dcterms.subjectlivestocken_US
dcterms.subjectwildlifeen_US
dcterms.typeJournal Articleen_US

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