Product Description
Building on ten years working with pastoral communities, IT carried out action research in Kenya with two communities for whom wildlife management issues are a matter of daily life. The research found very little trade off for these communities in terms of enhanced opportunities derived from local wildlife management systems. Many complex cultural and social issues are raised by a shift to cultivation and other new livelihood strategies for traditionally pastoralist communities, none of which currently promote beneficial interactions with wildlife conservation.
This Working Paper presents detailed analysis of the two case studies and then addresses the question of whether the problematic situations which emerge can be addressed by improved management of interactions between the stakeholders, or whether in fact the dilemmas faced are part of a deeper structural conflict of interests which the more optimistic win-win literature on communities and wildlife management in Africa has obscured.
About the Author
Stuart Coupe is International Projects Manager in the Practical Action Programme on Reducing Vulnerability, with a background in African Studies.
Viv Lewis former Senior Food Production Specialist, ITDG, is currently Food Security Adviser, Plan International.
Zadoc Ogutu is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography, Kenyatta University.
