Cattle water and wildlife: enhancing socio-ecological resilience in Laikipia

Recently the Agricultural Development Corporation set aside part of its Mutara ranch, which borders Ol Pejeta Conservancy, for livestock and wildlife management. This presented a rare opportunity to enhance conservation and safeguard livelihoods across the landscape by enabling more equitable access to grazing resources whilst securing it as a dispersal area for Ol Pejeta’s burgeoning wildlife populations, including black rhino.

The ‘Cattle water and wildlife: enhancing socio-ecological resilience in Laikipia’ project, through funding from the Darwin Initiative, is developing an inclusive approach to strengthening range land and water resource management through reducing natural resource conflict, safeguarding pastoralist livelihoods, supporting innovative livelihood diversification by smallholders and extending dispersal areas for endangered wildlife.

The project’s key outcome will be securing the 8000ha of Mutara ranch as a dispersal area for wildlife with grazing and water resources managed for the local community and pastoralist wellbeing that leads to reduced resource conflict across the wider landscape.

In the project, Fauna & Flora is co-coordinating the implementation of activities, design and execution of participatory approaches, social and ecological monitoring frameworks, data analysis, species protection and monitoring activities. Ol Pejeta Conservancy is leading the field-based implementation of the project, alongside the Laikipia Wildlife Forum which is supporting the delivery of field-based operations for water management activities through the Mount Kenya Ewaso Water Partnership (MKEWP) to ensure integration with landscape-level activities.