The political ecology of community conservation in northern Kenya: A case study of the Meibae Community Wildlife Conservancy

The Samburu of northern Kenya have had a long and close association with wildlife; yet have only recently begun to adopt wildlife conservation as a livelihood strategy. This spread appears to be related to Kenya's current strategy for wildlife conservation, which directs money and resources towards community-based wildlife conservation projects. While the performance of community conservation in Kenya has been initially described, the body of research examining how Kenya's wildlife conservation approach is being negotiated by local stakeholders and incorporated into local livelihood strategies and practices is limited. Based on a case study of the Meibae Community Wildlife Conservancy in Samburu district, northern Kenya, that mainly utilized semi-structured interviews, this study examines the motivations of local and non-local groups to pursue wildlife conservation. Viewed through a political ecology lens, this paper analyzes how local people moderate the powerful influence of non-local conservation values and interests. In particular, findings suggest that local people adopt wildlife conservation projects to access better systems of rangeland management, pursue strategic linkages with external stakeholders and develop basic industries. I conclude that this process represents how Samburu pastoralists strategically embrace externally driven wildlife conservation efforts in self-defining ways to bolster their rangeland resources and livestock economy and scale-up to effectively increase their power base.