Annual Report 2019 © Jonathan Kaelo Driven by science, focused on people programmes that are complementary to wildlife conservation and which take Letter from Executive Director into account the health of the ecosystems where we work. As I write this letter, the world is facing value proposition: ‘Driven by science, 2020 has been designated as the super year for nature and biodiversity. The one of the greatest health threats of focused on people’, a statement current pandemic highlights the urgency to examine how humans interact with our generation, a pandemic whose that encompasses KWT’s values and the natural world. In 2016, a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) impacts have been felt across the main objective. At the end of 2019, a report pointed out that 75% of all emerging infectious human diseases are globe affecting all its citizens and decision was made to close down our zoonotic and that these zoonotic diseases are closely interlinked with the health economies. As the situation evolves, US registered charity; FoKWT (US). We of ecosystems. As we move past this crisis and look to the future, our promise to the safety of our team and the have now partnered with Empowers you, our supporters, is that we will continue to work with like-minded partners to communities we serve is our number Africa, a U.S. public charity under IRC ensure that conservation is managed in a way that ensures that nature thrives, so one priority. Like most sectors across Section 501(c)(3), who will work with that humans thrive as well. the world, conservation has been hit KWT to provide a cost-effective and hard by the COVID-19 pandemic; long-term solution to fundraising in the Best wishes, lockdown measures have prevented United States. This new development Irene Amoke, PhD many of our partners from reaching will make the donation process easier those who rely on their support, for you while allowing us to focus our Executive Director much work is on hold and funding is efforts and energies on doing the *Former FoKWT-US Trustees uncertain. At KWT, some of our field work that matters most - conserving activities have been postponed or Kenya’s predators. We are grateful to Nicholas Lapham, Leslie Roach, Rick Weyerhaeuser, John Madigan, Greg Stone, cancelled. Most of our work has shifted our outgoing US Trustees* who have Skip Dunn, John Taylor, and Neil Anthony online and we have reassessed our supported and championed KWT’s programmatic work to fit into this new work over the past ten years. normal. Our thoughts remain with the communities and individuals, most The current pandemic has caused all Contents deeply hit by COVID-19, and to the of us to regroup and think about how many more who have, and continue conservation is run across the world. Letter from Executive Director ........................................................ 2 to be affected by the economic One thing is clear; it can never be Letter from Chair of Board of Trustees .............................................4 repercussions inflicted by this business as usual. For wildlife to be Our Focus ......................................................................................... 7 pandemic. secure and to thrive, it is imperative that the communities who coexist with Where we work and our partners .................................................... 8 2019 was a year of progress for KWT; this wildlife are resilient to external Our Strategic Priorities .................................................................... 9 we reviewed our overall strategy pressures that affect their livelihoods. Predators ......................................................................................... 10 highlighting four key priorities which KWT believes that local communities will guide our programmes going are the best stewards of their land People ............................................................................................. 16 forwards. These priorities are discussed and the wildlife which live on these Partnerships .................................................................................... 20 further in this report. We further lands. In 2020, we will pay particular developed communications and focus on working with communities KWT Team ....................................................................................... 25 fundraising strategies, and redesigned in the following ways; scaling up our Note from KWT Ambassadors........................................................ 26 our website. The most significant conservation leadership programme How to support KWT ...................................................................... 28 outcome was the development of our and, developing sustainable livelihood Institutional Partners and Supporters in 2019 ................................ 29 Kenya, and the rest of Africa, is already going down this path, as its economy Letter from Chair of Board of Trustees starts to falter, especially with the complete and sudden collapse of its tourism industry. The Tourism Industry in Kenya accounts for a full 10% of GDP, as well Dear Friends of the Kenya Wildlife Trust, as employing 10% of the country’s workforce. Well over 1 million breadwinners and their families are reliant on tourism for a living. There is no social security 2020 was said to be a critical year for the world’s nations to commit to preserving or other government safety net for those out of work. We, in KWT, have made it and restoring biodiversity, with China scheduled to host the 15th meeting of the our goal to work with communities in the Greater Mara Ecosystem to conserve Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity their most iconic animal, the lion, of which there are close to 500 adults and in Kunming. 2020 was also supposed to provide an opportunity to ramp up the almost as many cubs and youngsters under one year. If the Greater Mara loses start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021 – 2030), intended to its lions (and other predators) to poaching, poisoning and snares, the community massively scale up the restoration of degraded and destroyed ecosystems to conservancies and the Maasai Mara National Reserve itself, will find it very fight the climate crisis and enhance food security, water supply and biodiversity. difficult to pick itself up and attract tourists in the same numbers as it did Pre- World Environment Day this year was scheduled to be hosted by Colombia, in Covid 19. partnership with Germany, with a focus on biodiversity. Our goal is to raise $ 100,000 to make the Mara Predator Conservation Programme fully effective in 2020/2021 to save the Lions of the Greater Mara. Sadly, as we know, humans as a species are themselves struggling to survive in a deadly war with Covid-19. Nothing since the outbreak of “Spanish Flu” in 1918, after the end of World War 1, has threatened to destroy human lives and the Will You Help, Please? If you love Kenya, you must love the Maasai Mara. If global economy in such a devastating scale as Covid-19. Ironically, some pluses you love the Maasai Mara, you must love its sensational lions. Please help us to for the environment are already being noticed, like reduced carbon emissions work with and enhance the efforts all the Mara stakeholders to save the Lions and cleaner air, but these gains are likely to be short-lived without the collective of the Greater Mara during this time of Covid-19 pandemic. Only KWT’s Mara will of nations to use the breathing space provided by the Corona virus crisis, Predator Conservation Programme has the knowledge of the entire Greater to create a new blueprint to reverse Climate Change. At the same time as the Mara lion population AND the trust of the communities living in the Greater planet is experiencing a pause in its exploitation, Covid-19 is threatening to Mara, to lead and co-ordinate a successful all-out effort to conserve these unleash a new wave of destruction of the Earth’s biodiversity, as people across magnificent lions. the world look to wildlife poaching for food and commercial gain, illegal logging and charcoal burning, to provide them with the means to fend off starvation. With best wishes to you all in these troubled times, Allan E. Earnshaw, Chairman. 4 KENYA WILDLIFE TRUST ANNUAL REPORT 2019 KENYA WILDLIFE TRUST ANNUAL REPORT 2019 5 KWT is committed to this OUR FOCUS declaration and together with other conservation PREDATORS In May 2019, Disney organizations will work KWT’s vision is a Kenya where predator Conservation Fund to: populations are a cornerstone of thriving supported the Wildlife ecosystems. To achieve this, we run and Conservation support predator conservation initiatives across Network (WCN) to Stop the loss Kenya’s key predator strongholds: Greater convene a gathering of We will protect lions, their prey Mara, Laikipia-Samburu and more than 80 leading Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystems. conservation experts at and their landscapes. the Lion Footprint Forum which was attended by Reduce the cost PEOPLE KWT’s Executive Director Dr Irene Amoke. A major We will minimise the burden Our predator conservation work is strongly outcome of the meeting on people in Africa who share anchored in working together with those communities living with wildlife. was a “Declaration to landscapes with lions. Recover Lions” which KWT works with and empowers local aspires to galvanize communities and educates all stakeholders the conservation Unlock the value about conservation and environmental community as a united