Speeches Shim
The Greater Maasai Mara Ecosystem in Narok County is home to the iconic wildlife migration, a world-renowned tourist destination and a critical ecosystem for wildlife conservation. With only 26 percent of the ecosystem under the government protection, community and privately-owned land adjacent to the Maasai Mara National Reserve is important for conservation efforts through the community conservancy model.
Like in many other parts of the world, wearing a face mask while in public has become mandatory in Kenya to help prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Masks can be easy to find but prohibitively expensive for poor populations in rural areas and informal settlements. In Kilifi, one of the Kenya's coastal counties, patients including pregnant women could not access health care for lack of masks, preventing their access to life-saving maternal care.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced $50 million to support Kenya’s response and recovery efforts to meet the immediate and longer-term challenges that COVID-19 is posing.
The Mau Forest Complex, Mt. Kenya, Aberdares, Cherangany Hills, and Mt. Elgon - Kenya’s five major water towers – provide an estimated 75 percent of the country’s water resources and are central to Kenya’s economic and social well-being. Despite their critical importance, these water towers have been seriously degraded and continue to be impacted by irregular and ill-planned settlements, overgrazing, uncontrolled and illegal forest resource extraction, and the conversion of forest land to agriculture.
The Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) is a local membership organization of community conservancies in northern and coastal Kenya that builds peace and improves livelihoods through conservation. Formed in 2004 by the Lewa Conservancy with support from USAID, NRT brings together local pastoralist land owners and the Government of Kenya to promote the long-term conservation of wildlife in Kenya’s northern rangelands and coastal region. At present, NRT oversees 395 community-owned and managed conservancies covering nearly 425,000 square kilometers.
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