Conference Overview
Kenya ranks among the world’s top wildlife destinations. A million and a half visitors a year boost our economy by 12 percent. But the swelling arrivals are crowding to our parks to the point of congestion. Big cats are trailed by hoards of cars, off-road driving is pummeling habitats and visitors are grouching about the crowds. Is there any room for further growth?
Plenty, if we look beyond the congested parks to the natural wealth Kenya has in abundance. In their rush between parks, tourists miss Kenya’s unrivalled diversity of animal and plant life and habitats—its biodiversity—to say nothing of its varied landscapes and rich cultural heritage. We have also overlooked the part biodiversity plays in rural livelihoods and national development.
Kenya, unlike the industrialized nations, depends more on renewable energy from sunlight than it does fossil fuels. This “natural capital”, channeled through plants and animals, is the engine of our farming, ranching, fisheries, forestry, wildlife and tourism industries. Wood fuels still supply two thirds of our domestic energy. The ecological services biodiversity give us captures our rainfall, regulates river flows, supplies nutrients for crops, fodder for livestock, controls erosion and cleans the air, water and soils we pollute. These services come free of charge, add billions of shillings to our local and national economy, and yet are ignored in our calculations of national economic output.
