THREATS AND THEIR RELATIVE SEVERITY TO W ILDLIFE PROTECTED AREAS OF KENYA

Abstract

Little information is available on the threats against biodiversity in Kenya. This is critical in prioritizing conservation strategies and instituting mitigation procedures to contain and or eliminate these threats for the survival of biodiversity in protected areas. This study aimed at documenting relative severity of threats and how serious protected parks are threatened. Two hundred protected area officers were interviewed. The most relatively severe threat factors were bush meat trade; poaching for trophies; human – wildlife conflicts; human population encroachment; loss of migration corridors and dispersal areas. Thirty-two (64%) protected areas were susceptible to over half of the threat factors, while over 70% of them were threatened by an index over 0.5. All marine and nearly all forested/montane protected areas were highly susceptible to the identified threat factors. Further, protected areas popular with tourists were also highly susceptible and threatened. Protected areas around urban/industrial and agricultural areas were threatened mostly by a variety of threat factors. These findings imply that threats to Kenya’s protected areas are serious. They are critical in helping the Kenya government to prioritize its strategies in protected areas management, rather than the current haphazard approach.