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Kenya Launches National Conservation Strategy to Boost Rhinos
NAIROBI, Kenya yesterday unveiled a new national strategy to increase the number of the endangered rhino in the next five years. The 2007-2011 Conservation and Management Strategy for the Black Rhino in Kenya and Management Guidelines for the White Rhino in Kenya seeks to raise the number of black rhinos from the current 540 black rhinos to 700 by 2011. The strategy is part of a bigger plan to raise the number of rhinos in Kenya to 2000 in the next 25 years after they were nearly wiped out by poachers in the 1970s and 80s. Kenya will also explore regional cooperation through a proposal seeking the establishment of an East African Rhino Management Group that will set protocols for exchanging and managing the eastern black rhinos within East Africa.

Since a Presidential decree in 1985 to establish a rhino conservation programme after a massive poaching crisis, Kenya has become a major player in Africa with the third largest black rhino population after South Africa and Namibia. Speaking at the launch of the strategy in Nairobi , Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS ) director Julius Kipngetich said the target of 2000 rhinos would require extension beyond protected and fenced areas to the extensive rangelands and intact habitats in Meru, Tsavo and semi-arid Northern Kenya.

The resources to realize the ambitious plan would come from KWS internal revenue, government and development partners. Among Kenyas wildlife species, the rhino had suffered most from poaching and habitat destruction. The populations are still small that if they were hit by a major calamity like disease outbreak, they would be wiped out. The poaching threat has largely been managed but it has not gone; it's surveillance that is at its highest ever Mr Kipngetich said.

He added that the survival of the rhino in the longer term would depend on good science, intensified protection, sustained monitoring and community engagement and learning from previous lessons. In addition, the private, community and county council lands will continue playing their important role in adding to the national park and private ranches populations. They provide an opportunity to increase rhino numbers. The model of community sanctuaries has worked well and offers an additional frontier in growing our rhino numbers Mr Kipngetich said. 

KWS also recognises the role that southern white rhino imported from South Africa play in Kenya's wildlife tourism and education and its importance to the conservation of the indigenous eastern black rhino. White rhinos would be introduced in community areas to boost tourism because they are easier to see than the black rhino. For this reason, KWS and its conservation partners have developed guidelines to improve the management of this species of white rhino introduced in Kenya.

The southern white rhino will also contribute to the conservation of this species globally but also and perhaps more importantly, serves as a possible reservoir of white rhino for Northern Africa. The state agency has already bought surveillance equipment, vehicles, and recruited rangers to implement the ambitious plan and is considering introducing rhinos in former range lands. Kenya Wildlife Service is operating on a yearly budget of Sh4. 04 billion (US$60.4 million), for all the conservation operations and seeks to have a Sh 7 billion (US$104.6 million) budget by 2010.  The launch of the rhino strategy comes ahead of others next year for the elephant, Grevy zebra, lion, spotted hyena and wild dog which are in preparation. Kenya Wildlife Service calls upon the donors and conservation partners and all stakeholders to support the conservation of rhinos in Kenya. 

ENDS
Contacts: Paul Udoto, Kenya Wildlife Service, Corporate Communications Manager, Tel +254-20-600800 ext 2233 or 2036 Cellphone +254-721-453-981 Emails: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it    This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it www
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Faced with threats of losing the Black Rhino, Kenya has now moved and unveiled a new national strategy to increase the number of the endangered rhino in the next five years.   
The 2007-2011 Conservation and Management Strategy for the Black Rhino in Kenya and Management Guidelines for the White Rhino in Kenya seeks to raise the numbers of black rhinos from the current 540 black rhinos to 700 by 2011.  
 
According to Communication officer at the Kenya Wildlife Services, Paul Udoto, the strategy is part of a bigger plan to raise the number of rhinos in Kenya to 2000 in the next 25 years.
 
He said the country will also explore regional cooperation through a proposal seeking the establishment of an East African Rhino Management Group that will set protocols for exchanging and managing the eastern black rhinos within East Africa. 
 
Poaching has been and still is a real threat. To address this challenge, necessary resources including increased manpower and reliable and rapid mobility/patrols are being put in place.  Reviewed security strategies are also being implemented.
 
To keep ahead of the increasingly sophisticated poacher, newer technologies will be incorporated in monitoring and surveillance. Monitoring techniques need to be enhanced and appropriate tools for measurement of efforts devised.  
 
The new strategy is part of a bigger plan to raise the number of rhinos in Kenya to 2000 in the next 25 years.  

Speaking at the launch of the strategy in Nairobi, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) director Julius Kipng'etich said the target of 2000 rhinos would require extension beyond protected and fenced areas to the extensive rangelands and intact habitats in Meru, Tsavo and semi-arid Northern Kenya.
 
The resources to realize the ambitious plan would come from KWS internal revenue, government and development partners.
 
Among Kenya's wildlife species, the rhino had suffered most from poaching and loss of habitat. "The poaching threat has largely been managed but it has not gone; it's surveillance that is at its highest ever."
 
Mr Kipng'etich said the survival of the rhino in the longer term will depend on good science, intensified protection, sustained monitoring and community engagement and learning from previous lessons. In addition, the private, community and county council lands will continue playing their important role in adding to the national park populations.
 
They provide an opportunity to increase rhino numbers.  The launch of the rhino strategy comes ahead of others for the elephant, Grevy zebra, lion, spotted hyena and wild dog which are in preparation. Kenya Wildlife Service calls upon the donors and conservation partners and all stakeholders to support the conservation of rhinos in Kenya.
 
The Black rhino suffered a catastrophic decline across Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, both in numbers and in the extent of its range. Numbers plummeted from an estimated 65,000 in 1970 to fewer than 2,500 by 1992.
 
The decline in the eastern black rhino in East Africa was particularly severe.   The black rhino's population  dropped in numbers in Kenya from an estimated 20,000 in 1970 to under 350 animals by 1990. Illegal demand for rhino horn resulting in poaching was, and continues to be, the major threat. 
 
All remaining subspecies of black rhino are listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
 
The black rhino is also listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.  Currently Kenya holds 540 black rhinos while the world's total black rhino population is estimated at 3,725.
 
Increasing changes in the operating environment, and emerging new challenges in rhino conservation and management, require continued updating of strategic approaches to ensure sustainable growth of the Kenyan black rhino population.
 
KWS recognises this dynamism and has, therefore, continuously kept its rhino conservation and management strategies under review to ensure the most appropriate strategic approach to management, decision making and resource utilization.  
The 2007-2011 Conservation and Management Strategy for the Black Rhino in Kenya and Management Guidelines for the White Rhino in Kenya   is crafted to be resilient to evolving socio-political and economic changes or internal managerial changes.
 
T he process of developing this strategy document included a review of the 2001–2005 Conservation and Management Strategy for the Black Rhino in Kenya, a Stakeholders' Workshop, circulation to stakeholders and IUCN African Rhino Specialist Group and ratification by the KWS Board of Trustees. 
 
During the next few years, Kenya will move into a new phase of conservation of black rhino with the vision of conserving in situ at least 2000 black rhinos in the wild.  
The revised goals and strategic objectives for 2007–2011 have been formulated to significantly increase black rhino numbers.  
 

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