KENYA'S WILDLIFE TOURISM: A CASUALTY OF COVID GETS A LIFELINE

BY: KILEY PRICE, CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL

From July to October each year, millions of wildebeests, zebras and other wildlife travel from Tanzania to Kenya’s Maasai Mara region—a phenomenon known as “The Great Migration.”

The animals are not the only ones flooding the region during this time: Typically, thousands of tourists flock to the Maasai Mara to catch a glimpse of this spectacle.

But the COVID-19 pandemic did not spare East Africa. With global travel all but halted, tourists disappeared from the Maasai Mara—along with the critical revenue they provide to wildlife conservancies dedicated to protecting this land.

Now, these conservancies are receiving a lifeline.

Conservation International, through its impact investing fund, CI Ventures, and in partnership with the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association, has established the African Conservancies Fund, a loan program helping to cover lease payments owed to Indigenous landowners who typically lease their land to conservancies for tourism operations.

Not only is this program bolstering the region’s tourism industry—and the communities that depend on it—it is also helping to fund wildlife conservation efforts, explained Michael O’Brien- Onyeka, who leads Conservation International’s work in Africa.

“The fallout in tourism due to the pandemic means communities are struggling,” said O’Brien-Onyeka. “These lease payments will help ensure the lands that make up the greater Maasai Mara remain wild, and that the communities that count on income from tourism are supported during this global crisis.”

Spanning 1,737 square miles, the Maasai Mara ecosystem is home to 25 percent of Kenya’s wildlife, including such iconic species as elephants, lions, giraffes and zebras. The conservancies that help protect the wildlife in this region support the livelihoods of 100,000 people.

For the Indigenous Maasai peoples who own this land, lease payments by ecotourism operators are typically used to fund schools and health centers and to support wildlife conservation efforts. In 2019, Maasai landowners earned more than US$7.5 million in lease payments.

“Over the last two decades, local communities and tourism investors have worked to find a way that nature and people can thrive together,” said Daniel Ole Sopia, the chief executive officer of

the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association, a membership association of conservancies in the region. “Our conservancies both secure critical wildlife populations and benefit local people. This is what successful conservation looks like.”

But this conservation model, one of the most promising and innovative in Africa, faces collapse as a result of the pandemic.

According to the government of Kenya, the country’s tourism industry lost nearly US$1 billion in revenue between January and October of last year due to coronavirus lockdowns and restrictions on travel. Experts estimate that in 2020, Maasai landowners made less than half of the revenue they collected on lease payments in 2019.

This loss of lease income—and uncertainty on when tourists may return—could force the Maasai people to sell or convert their lands to farms, putting wildlife in the region at risk, experts say.

And as recent reports indicate a surge in poaching throughout Kenya since the pandemic began, wildlife conservation in this revered ecosystem is more important than ever, O’Brien-Onyeka explains.

“There is no insurance policy, there is no social safety set; tourism has always been their only avenue to make money,” O’Brien-Onyeka said in a recent BBC podcast. “People [are] raiding nature to survive out of desperation.”

Through the loan program, conservancies across the Maasai Mara can secure short-to-medium-term funding to offset the revenue loss from COVID-19. The loans will be repaid out of future tourism returns and conservation fees that the conservancies collect from tourism operators.

The loan fund was set up and structured at record speed to quickly support the communities impacted by a loss of revenue in real-time. The initial bridge loan disbursements were received by the Mara North Conservancy and the Ol Kinyei Conservancy in early December. These are the first of many conservancies participating in the program.

Conservation International worked with conservancies and with the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association to incorporate their vision and priorities into the loan program to help ensure that these efforts are effective and long-lasting. As a condition of the financial support, the conservancies are required to implement governance, financial and operational strengthening activities to help ensure their long-term sustainability and build resilience against future external shocks, such as disease outbreaks or natural disasters. For example, some groups have already created requirements for Indigenous women and youth members to be represented on a conservancy’s council or board of directors to increase inclusivity during decision-making processes.

Further, stakeholders across the Maasai Mara are actively exploring opportunities to diversify revenue streams for this landscape.

“Most immediately, the funding will provide a bridge of support for the conservancies and local communities that face global challenges outside of their control,” said Agustin Silvani, who leads the conservation finance program at Conservation International. “As tourism returns, revenues are expected to be available to pay back the impact investors while providing enough flexibility to weather downturns and ensure the longterm stability of the conservancies. We want the Mara to remain a thriving place for generations to come.”

More at Conservation.org/CIVentures

CI Ventures is the impact-investing arm of Conservation International. As a revolving fund, CI Ventures invests in companies that generate positive social, environmental and financial returns over a specified period of time. The principal and earned interest returned to the fund are used for new investments in green enterprises.