Kenya International Conference on Biodiversity, Land use and Climate Change

The conference received an overwhelming interest in the poster session. Below are some of the abstracts on posters that were published during the conference. If you wish to submit a an abstract and a pdf version of your poster, please contact posters(at)kenyabiodiversityandclimatechange.org.

Monitoring of Kenya’s Important Bird Areas

By Fred Barasa Munyekenye
NatureKenya, The East Africa Natural History Society, Museum Hill Box 44486 GPO, 00100 Nairobi Kenya
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The Important Bird Areas (IBAs) are internationally important places for birds and they form a global network of more than 10,000 sites crucial for maintaining species’ overall ranges and populations. IBAs are a major part of the larger network of key biodiversity areas and are important sites for biodiversity conservation worldwide. Kenya has Sixty one IBAs and all except one have been monitored [(state (key species or habitats), the pressure (threats) and responses (interventions)] since 2004. The data and information generated from the IBAs is analyzed and summarized into an annual status and trends report. It is as a result of the continuous coordination by Nature Kenya with the collaboration of the National Museums of Kenya, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest Service and the National Environment Management Authority and other National Liaison Committee members that the implementation of monitoring programme in Kenya has been possible. The IBA status and trends reports have been useful while reporting on Kenya’s biodiversity at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) during the drafting of the country report to the convention.

Community based management of key resources in pastoral areas of northern Kenya: Realization of adaptive management for facilitating adaptation to climate change

1 Warui, H. M., Kshatriya, M. and Wamuongo, J. W.
1Environment Research/Climate Change Unit, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Community based management of natural resources under common pool regimes of utilization have been promoted among the pastoralists of northern Kenya.  Notably, the initiatives focused on enhancing pastoral communities’ management practices of woody resources around the settlements. The process of managing the resources is governed by local institutions (Environmental Management Committees) that operate under negotiated set of rules in the frame of action plans on utilization and sharing of the resources. The presented case study on the formation and operation processes of the Environmental Management Committees (EMCs) among the Rendille pastoralists of northern Kenya constitutes a form of an adaptive resource management approach. The latter is “learning to manage by managing to learn”. It is an interactive (act, learn, act again) process that is plausible for facilitating adaptation to climate change under uncertainty. Indeed, the arid and semi arid lands (ASALs) are characterized by high degrees of uncertainty and vulnerability to various risks associated with climate change. Thus, under the changing climate and extreme conditions in the ASALs the approach is recommended for enhancing adaptation. Moreover, possibilities of incorporating a collaborative management (co-management) approach should be explored.

Kenya’s plant diversity – Opportunities for habitat restoration and mitigating impacts of climate change

Desterio Ondieki Nyamongo (PhD)
National Coordinator, Genetic Resources conservation, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute
National Genebank of Kenya, P.O. Box 30148 00100, NAIROBI KENYA
Tel: 0725 234249
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Conservation of the Kenyan plant diversity is crucial for Kenya’s economic and social development. Despite this, the spatial extend of our plant heritage is declining rapidly. Thus, the total Kenyan forest cover is projected at less than 2% of the total Kenyan area. Consequently, scarce plant resources are culminating to conflicts largely due to competition for water, agricultural land, fodder and forest products among Kenyan communities. To reverse the trend of a declining plant heritage and associated biodiversity, the Government of Kenya, in line with the first Millennium Development Goal, has put in place policies namely: the Economic Recovery Strategy (ERS) for Wealth and Employment Creation 2003-2008, and recently Vision 2030. In support of these government policies, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, through the National Genebank, and in partnership with other national and international organizations undertook to conserve Kenya’s plant diversity for use in research and posterity.

The National Genebank to date holds close to 50000 accessions of plant material comprising about 3000 species. This includes over 2000 native species that KARI and its partners namely: National Museums of Kenya (NMK), Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI), Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and Kenya Forestry Service (KFS), together with the Millennium Seed Bank Project, have collected, and stored at the National Gene-bank of Kenya, seeds of for posterity. The stored seed is accompanied with information regarding source, taxonomic attributes, seed characteristics and use of the species. To ensure safety of conserved genotypes, duplicates of the species have been deposited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Propagation protocols for these species have also been developed. While the primary purpose of the conserved seed stocks is for posterity, they are available for habitat restoration in Kenya.


WILDKNOWLEDGE IN WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

Ecotourism as a land use option and its ecological consequences: A study of tourist facilities in the Mara Ecosystem, Kenya

The unprecedented growth of wildlife tourism has prompted debates about its environmental sustainability and impacts on the ecology of wildlife areas. This has in turn led to the emergence and increasing popularity of ecotourism as a more sustainable form of tourism. Though perceived as a solution to solving the negative impacts of wildlife tourism and achieving ecological sustainability within the industry, ecotourism’s impacts on wildlife may in some cases be greater than those of traditional tourism. These arguments have been attributed to its perceived preference for fragile and unique ecosystems which are highly sensitive to slight ecological changes.

While the Mara ecosystem receives more visitors than any other wildlife area in East Africa and about half the visitors to Kenya today, it also reveals how the struggle over land use change and wildlife tourism can undermine ecotourism’s underlying aspirations. The high number of visitors to the ecosystem has resulted in an increase in the number of ecotourism ventures in and around the reserve leaving the ecosystem vulnerable to adverse environmental impacts. The greatest challenge facing wildlife managers is how to manage the increasing visitor numbers without further disturbing the ecosystem.  Although the environmental impacts of wildlife tourism in Kenya are widely acknowledged, they are largely un-quantified and mostly descriptive, with little data generated for subsequent scientific analysis. There is therefore a need for ecological research to move beyond the observable and measureable effects and emphasise the relationship between the physical and biological effects of wildlife tourism.

Assessing the distribution and densities of focal wildlife species around six tourist developments (eco-facilities and traditional lodges) of various sizes, this research seeks to identify their impacts.  To do this, the WildKnowledge suite of software is being used to record spatial data of wildlife distribution and activity from static observation points in the different developments. Current and historical remote sensed data is being analysed and any temporal and spatial relationships evaluated using Geographical Information System (GIS) to create, store, analyse and visualise topographical and ecological data (including wildlife, vegetation, man-made and natural resources). The temporal and spatial relationship between different tourist developments and wildlife density and distribution of ungulate species will be analysed using a variety of statistical tools including non-parametric tests to demonstrate significance levels, interrelationships between different variables and display trends.

The interdisciplinary approach employed by this research will employ GIS to generate algorithms for the creation of a predictive model intended to model likely impacts to wildlife of any new development proposals in a given wildlife area.  This model is intended for use by decision makers to indicate levels of acceptability of any proposed development and influence policy direction in relation to tourism planning, in both existing wildlife areas and those earmarked for further expansion.


Population Status and Threats to the Nile lechwe (kobus megaceros) in the Sudd Wetland, Southern Sudan

Demetry, Paul Lado
Moi University, Dept of Wildlife Management, Eldoret-Kenya
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Southern Sudan’s Sudd wetland harbors three protected areas namely: Shambe National Park, Zeraf and Fanyikang Game Reserves, which supports the endemic Nile lechwe (kobus megaceros). The Sudd is mostly inhabited by Nuer, Dinka and Shilluk ethnic groups. This study (Aerial and social surveys) was conducted between January and March 2010, the aim was to determined the population distribution of Nile lechwe and identify factors threatening the Nile lechwe and their habitat in the Sudd Wetland.  Results showed that they are distributed at the periphery of the Wetland, 57.6 % occurred outside the protected areas, while 42.4% occurred inside Zeraf Game Reserve. 92.2% of the local communities keep cattle, 80% migrate with their livestock to the toic yearly and 9.4% resettled after the civil war. Previously, the civil war  was perceived as the greatest threat , but currently the greatest threat is hunting which is accelearted by firearms followed by wildfire, livestock densities, agricultural expansion, floods, diseases, Jonglei canal reconstruction, drought , oil exploration and  extraction. The difference between the various level of perceived threats  is highly significant ( P = 0.00). Over  61.1 %  of the respondents are not  aware of a game reserve , 53.3 % don’t know the wildlife laws of Southern Sudan and 65.6% value Nile lechwe culturally, these are seen as indirect threats to the Nile lechwe and its habitat. If these activities continue uncontrolled, the future of Nile lechwe will be in jeopardy. To conserve them an active integrated management strategy for the whole study area would be needed.

Key words: Southern Sudan, Sudd Wetland, Nile lechwe, distribution, threats.

Assessment of land cover and climate change impacts on the hydrology, a case study of east Mau catchment in Kenya.

Kennedy Mwetu1,*and Raphael Wambua2

1School of Water Resources, Science & Technology, South Eastern University College (SEUCO), A Constituent College of the University of Nairobi, Box 17090200, Kitui, Kenya.

2School of Engineering & Technology, South Eastern University College (SEUCO), A Constituent College of the University of Nairobi, Box 17090200, Kitui, Kenya.

*Corresponding author; Tel: +254 722 72 55 99; email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This study presents the assessment of land cover change, climatic variability and their resultant impacts on the hydrology, which was quantified using SWAT model for a period of 19732000 at the upper River Njoro catchment of Kenya. The catchment underwent a significant land cover alteration in this period likely to drive current hydrological impacts. Moreover, the ever increasing human population in the catchment has potential to bring changes in climatic variability. All these have a direct impact on biodiversity and general heath of the catchment. The results of land cover assessment from satellite images show that the forest cover decreased by 23% (29 km2) of the catchment area while agricultural field (farms and grassland) increased by 10% (26 km2). The output of hydrological modeling shows that the catchment is altered to favour generation of annual surface runoff, sediment yield, transmission losses and water yield. Furthermore, the amount of water that contributes to percolation, return flow of groundwater to stream flow, lateral flow and actual evapotranspiration is reducing over the period analyzed. The separation of hydrological impacts shows that climatic variability is overriding land cover change in generating annual surface runoff and subsequent increase in annual water yield. The results form crucial inputs for design of the water resources management strategies for addressing the current hydrological challenges.

Keywords:

Biodiversity; Climatic variability; Hydrological modeling; Land cover; River Njoro catchment; Water yield

IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN CENTRAL RIFT VALLEY

Rucina, S.M., Muiruri, V.M. and Kinyanjui, R. N
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The study of vegetation change such as revealed through pollen, charcoal, isotope and phytolith analysis introduces confounding factor, the influence of human activity as observed in the Namelok Swamp and Lake Challa in Kenya. The relationship between climate and vegetation is assumed to be change in climate but anthropogenic activities affect vegetation directly or indirectly in addition to cyclic chaotic situations that help shape vegetation pattern. There is now enough evidence of the ecological impacts of recent climate change, from tropical environments. The responses of flora span an array of ecosystems exposing coherent pattern of ecological change across systems. The projected trends of global warming, ecological responses to recent climate change are already clearly visible with drying of Rift Valley Lakes from Pleistocene through Holocene.

Key word: Lake Level, palaeoecology, biodiversity, climate change, plant micro fossils.

IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN CENTRAL RIFT VALLEY

Rucina, S.M., Muiruri, V.M. and Kinyanjui, R. N
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Climate change is a natural phenomenal that is controlled by various factors which include solar system, land forms and human activities. Climate change has both positive impacts and negative impacts on the socio-economic developments in any given country. Understanding the impact of climate changes on our land in the past is crucial in making important decisions on the way forward of curbing and coping with present day impacts and more so help us adapt to the contemporary climate. Various proxies are used as indicators of varied climatic conditions that prevailed in the past. Lake Level changes are among these proxies, strong and consistent relationships exist between sediment composition and lake depth. Rift valley lakes are in particular very sensitive to climatic changes as they preserve both biotic and abiotic signals.  They also act as traps and archives to changes in biodiversity and therefore, reliable of various signals of changes in the ecosystems. Some of these lake basins have experienced adverse impact to an extent they have disappeared and more so to biodiversity.

Key word: Lake Level, palaeoecology, biodiversity, climate change, plant micro fossils.

Monitoring Climate Change using Sensor Networks and Mobile Phones

Muthoni Masinde
School of Computing and Informatics, University of Nairobi, +254 721 319 434, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dr. Antoine Bagula, Department of Computer Science, University of Cape Town, +27 21 650 4315, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Prof. John Muthama, Department of Meteorology, University of Nairobi, +254 4449004 ext. 2070 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Keywords Climate change, drought prediction, sensor networks, mobile phones

Droughts are among the most expensive climate related disasters in the world; their negative impacts form a complex web that spans economic, social and environmental aspects of the affected society. Droughts are prevalent in many parts of Kenya. Drought prediction through climate change monitoring can mitigate some of the devastating effects of droughts especially food insecurity. In Kenya and indeed most African countries, climate monitoring is currently implemented using macroinfrastructures based on expensive and well-calibrated weather stations. The stations are then sparsely deployed by governmental organizations in relatively small number of fixed locations to provide highly technical macro information in form of climate maps for droughts and other natural disasters prediction. This creates a feasibility gap that needs to be addressed through complementary technologies, systems and strategies. This research aims to bridge this gap using a combination of the emerging sensor/actuator technology and mobile phones. The proposed solution provides support for low cost weather stations, which can be used by academics and the civil society to build community sensor networking micro-infrastructures based on off-theshelf sensing devices. These can then be deployed in the environment to extend the available climate maps and prediction through (1) collection of climate data (2) analysis of this data (3) modeling of climate change in cities and the whole countries (4) derivation of sound policies based on the derived climate models and (5) providing awareness to citizens, official organizations, Non Governmental Organizations and private organizations.

Community-based ecosystem and landscape monitoring in the South Rift and Mukogodo: Collecting and utilising information towards sustainable integrated biodiversity management

Preetika Bhanderi, Andrew Muchiru, Julius Muriuki, Jim Nyamu, Samantha Russell
African Conservation Centre (ACC), Nairobi, Kenya
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Ecosystem and landscape management has long been part of the Maasai community and sustains their livelihoods. However, past trends and patterns have been inadequately documented, making future modelling highly challenging. Thus, a community-based resource assessor program has been set up, training community members in data/information collection and management. This involves data acquisition, classification, manipulation, analysis, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information. The data collected is diverse ranging from biodiversity assessments and drought impacts to livestock condition and livelihood profiles. This information is utilised to assess trends, examine use of natural resources, create awareness among their own community and sensitize stakeholders and policy makers. They also employ validated indigenous knowledge and inculcate participatory management approaches for conservation and sustainable integrated management of biodiversity in their ecosystems and landscapes.

Keywords: Community-based monitoring, ecosystem, landscape, biodiversity

An integrated approach to biodiversity conservation in the southern Rift Valley, Kenya

Samantha Russell, Dr David Western, Dr. Scott Creel, Paul Schuette, John Kamanga
African Conservation Centre (ACC), Montana State University, University of Leicester, South Rift Association of Land Owners.
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Keywords: biodiversity conservation, ecosystem monitoring, integrated approach, community conservancies, MVCA.

The expansion of conservation policies to include all species calls for far more extensive protection than national parks can provide. A landscape approach is needed to conserve the biodiversity-rich regions such as the East African Rift Valley. Establishing successful biodiversity conservation depends on community-based initiatives and an understanding of the spatial context of biodiversity. Recognition of the need to define the Minimum Viable Conservation Area (MVCA) for conserving biodiversity nationally is growing. Here we demonstrate how such an approach is also needed for community conservancies. For a successful MVCA, a number of factors have to be considered. These include the minimum critical processes, external factors, internal processes and subsystems that sustain biodiversity - as well as the threats they face. A comprehensive integrated ecosystem monitoring system has been established in the Olkiramatian/Shompole ecosystem to begin assessing these processes.

The monitoring system, which is manned by local resource assessors, field assistants and international scientists, collects and compiles data ranging from soils, vegetation and water to wildlife, livestock and livelihoods. The system was set up to be fully integrated, both in terms of spatial and temporal factors, to ensure community participation in research and generate local benefits.

Maintaining biodiversity via free ranging elephant population in the South rift.

Andrew Muchiru, Preetika Hirani, Julius Muriuki, Jim Nyamu, Samantha Russell
African Conservation Centre (ACC), Nairobi, Kenya
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For millennia, Savanna elephants have played a key ecological role in the ecosystem. Habitat encroachment and poaching has disrupted elephant movement in the rangeland which affected many wild and domestic animals in some areas.

The elephant and pastoral communities coexisted harmoniously until the ivory trade escalated poaching. Consequently some elephant populations were forced into protected areas causing unprecedented habitat destruction. The cascading effect was local extinction of fauna and flora plus ecological mechanism disruption.

Encouraging elephant to disperse from high concentration areas will reduce pressure within the ecosystems and allow recovery. The priority has been to win space but is challenged by partial acceptance of the elephants by pastoral communities. A change in land use and ownership policy will also play a key role, such as discouraging un-sustainable agricultural efforts in areas with insufficient rain.

While space will effect dispersal into a network of parks and community wildlife sanctuaries, acceptance can only be a reality if the animals are viewed as an asset. In some areas, community conservancies serve dual purpose of being grass banks and for game viewing.

Conserving elephants will benefit most other species due to its vast habitat range requirement.

Key words: Elephant; Habitat; Community; Savanna

Tracking animals for Conservation:  Save the Elephants

Douglas-Hamilton Iain, Ihwagi Festus and Gilbert Sabinga
Save the Elephants P. O. Box 54667, Nairobi
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Tracking Animals for Conservation project integrates various species’ movement data with landscape features.  The project tracks elephants, lions, cheetahs, wild dog, Grevy's zebra and cattle with a number of collaborators and sponsors. It reveals key concentration areas, vital corridors, and overlaps between human and wildlife spatial needs in Northern Kenya.  The project promotes data sharing and aims to assist conservation and development planning. Livestock movements inform on spatial overlaps between pastoralists and wildlife hence potential for disease cross-transmission. The effectiveness of new electric fences in lowering human elephant conflict is measured through changes in elephant movement. The project also assists Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE), an international CITES program. The ecosystem hosts 7500 elephants that are viable and were increasing up to the end of 2008.

Key words: Tracking, animals, corridors, Northern Kenya

The Biodiversity Information Center in Kakamega Forest

By Anastasia Mwaura
Kenya Wildlife Service, Biodiversity, Research and Monitoring Department P.O. Box 879-50100, Kakamega, Kenya
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it         Tel no: 0727 486515

Biodiversity informatics is the computerized handling of biodiversity information for improved management, presentation, discovery, exploration and analysis. A lot of research work has been carried out in Kakamega forest which is a tropical rainforest hotspot for biodiversity. However the data is spread in various institutions. Therefore the BIOTA project saw the need to collate, store and disseminate Kakamega forest research findings to reduce duplication in the future by setting up a Biodiversity Information Center. The BIC consist of a library, a Geographic Information System laboratory and a conference hall. The center targets various stakeholders and ensures the long-term availability of BIOTA data and results in form of Publications, Geodata visualization and analysis tools and materials for environmental education such as the Multimedia presentation DVD, the maps, tourism guide, cartoons and the Atlas. The BIC is hoped to reach out to a wide range of stakeholders and policy makers, as well as to promote communication between scientists, foresters/managers, the local communities, and forest visitors.

Keywords: Biodiversity Information Center; Kakamega Forest; Geodata; Publications.

UVIMA: TAXONOMY FOR DEVELOPMENT IN EAST AFRICA

Patricia Karani and Emily Wabuyele

UVIMA (a Swahili acronym that stands for Uchambuzi wa Viumbe kwa Maendeleo Afrika Mashariki which can loosely be translated as Taxonomy for Development in East Africa), is a BioNET-EAFRINET Project of leading institutions in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, running for 2.5 years. It is supported by SwedBio (the Swedish International Biodiversity Programme) and SDC (the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation).

The UVIMA project aims at consolidating and mobilizing existing taxonomic information in order to generate tools and products to help address the environmental, food and poverty crises in Africa, with a focus on three areas; pollinators, invasive alien species and pests. Invasive alien species (IAS) are key drivers of change in ecosystems, often severely compromising the delivery of ecosystem services. Pests are a constant challenge to agricultural productivity and trade. Pollinator decline in diversity and abundance is likely to cause the next agricultural crisis in Africa. The key objectives are to develop a knowledge base for product delivery; generate taxonomic tools and products according to end-user priorities; disseminate and market taxonomic tools, products and services; and strengthen institutional capacity in East Africa. Among the planned tools and products are factsheets, guides, keys, fliers, manuals and checklists. The project is also contributing the production of reference databases at national & regional levels and web-based tools and resources; Dissemination of these outputs as well as training activities in biodiversity informatics and other relevant skills will assist countries in respond to national & international conventions e.g. CBD and IPPC. Project partners include KARI, relevant ministries, UoN, GBIF, CBIT and the Smithsonian Institute.

Our end users include researchers, lecturers, extension workers, scientists, farmers, policy makers and the general public. Some of the taxonomic challenges faced are scattered information sources in various institutions, individuals, formats, literature and sharing protocols. The main priorities being pursued to ameliorate this situation is interoperability and access.

Completed activities include project planning and awareness raising meetings in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda; The documentation of Regional needs for taxonomic tools and products that can meet end user requirements and reviews of baseline taxonomic capacity and infrastructure for the management of pests, invasive species and pollinators in the region. A pollinator proposal development workshop has been held in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institute and the UVIMA project contributed to a project development workshop for invasive species, taxonomy and protected area management in collaboration with the CBD, BioNET and other partners. The EAFRINET website has been improved and is being regularly updated. On-going activities include Regional consultancies for production of invasives, pests and pollinators checklists. Draft lists have been produced, ICT equipment, based on ICT needs assessment carried out in late 2009 has been procured; a stakeholder and an institutional metadatabase to be hosted on the EAFRINET website is under construction. Upcoming activities include Regional consultancies to develop tools and products for pests, pollinators and invasives; the EAFRINET strategic planning process to strengthen the network that will include a regional workshop this coming October; and training in the use of Lucid software for the production of tools and products including taxonomic keys and factsheets in October by CBIT, Australia. The latter stages of the project will focus on dissemination of project outputs through the EAFRINET network and its key Regional partners to facilitate end-user impact.


Forgotten Casualties: Women and Environmental Change

Deepali Gohil and Preetika Bhanderi
African Conservation Centre (ACC), Nairobi, Kenya
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We share a future of environmental changes that entail different consequences for people and regions. In the semi arid and arid regions of Kenya, pastoral communities are vulnerable to climate change due to ongoing environmental degradation and extreme weather conditions that are articulated along social, poverty and gender lines. Women in particular are greatly exposed to the impacts of such changes, due to their greater dependence on the ecosystem for food, energy, water and medicine. We intend to explore the gendered effects of land use and climate change on vulnerability of women related to: the various dimensions (exposure, resilience); biophysical and social distributions; relationships across social scales; and the role of temporal sequences or cycles in creating ‘windows of vulnerability’. The study will also include an economic impact analysis of environmental changes on the livelihoods of women, and in turn identify policies required to integrate women into the land use and climate change mitigation and adaptation process.

Key words: Climate Change, Land Use Change, Gender Analysis, Socio-Economic Impacts

Biodiversity status of Chyulu Hills ecosystem: Preliminary assessment of Plants, Mammals and birds

Musila W. a *,  Kivai S.  b,  Moinde-Fockler N.b , Hussein A.b , Fundi, P b. Nyaga S. c,  Ochieng T. a , Githiru M. a,  Kimeu J.a, Chesire C. a, Kioko A b. & Mati E b.
a National Museums of Kenya, P. O. Box 40658 00100, Nairobi, Kenya
b Institute of Primate Research, Conservation Biology Department, P.O Box 24481 00502, Nairobi, Kenya
c Kenya Wildlife Service - Tsavo West National Park, Research Department, P.O Box 71 90128, Mtito-Andei

* Corresponding Author, E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel no: 020 3742161/4 ext. 2270

The Chyulu Hills, are one of the most spectacular and relatively pristine landscape in Kenya. The hills comprise a high diversity of habitats ranging from montane forests, dense thickets to wooded grasslands. Their close proximity to the Eastern Arc Mountains (Taita hills), one of the biodiversity hotspots in the world, increases their potential in terms of endemism and biodiversity richness. The hills act as crucial water catchment area and provide shelter and food for a high diversity of wildlife. In addition, the adjacent local communities rely heavily on the ecosystem for their socio-economic well-being.  Despite the high conservation value of Chyulu Hills ecosystem, very little is known about their biodiversity status. It is against this background that a biodiversity assessment was conducted to document the distribution, population size and conservation status of plants, mammals and birds of Chyulu Hills ecosystem. The local values, uses and threats of the Chyulu biodiversity were also assessed.  Findings of the biodiversity assessment will be presented.

Key words: Chyulu Hills; Biodiversity assessment; Habitats; Conservation

The diversity, distribution and conservation status of Mt. Kenya Plants

Musila, W.*, Malombe I., Kirika P., Kimeu J. & Chesire C.
National Museums of Kenya, Botany Department, P.O. Box 40658 00100, Nairobi, Kenya
* E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel no: 020 3742161/4 ext. 2270

There is general lack of knowledge of the existing plant diversity of most African ecosystems. Mt. Kenya ecosystem is not an exception, a critical lack of baseline data continues to be a serious impediment to conserving this ecosystem, which constitutes one of the country’s important water tower. Vegetation composition, species diversity and their habitats are not well understood. A botanical survey was done to document the floristic composition, structure, distribution and conservation status of Mt. Kenya plants along two climbing routes i.e. Chogoria and Sirimon. Chogoria occurs on the wetter, windward side and Sirimon on the drier leeward side. A total of 314 plant species were recorded of which one rare, 18 endemics and five threatened tree species were identified. Chogoria route was more floristically diverse than Sirimon. Tree population in Chogoria was more stable than in Sirimon. There was low similarity in species composition among the sampling sites depicting high habitat heterogeneity contributed by differences in altitude, soils, topography, rainfall and disturbance levels. Mt Kenya ecosystem has been greatly influenced by man and continues to be disturbed besides the current threat of global warming. Such ecological studies will enhance our understanding of the ecosystems dynamics for better management and conservation.

Key words: Mt. Kenya; Plants; Diversity; Conservation

Vulture declines in Kenya

Keywords: poison, Masai Mara, Laikipia, scavenger
Authors: M.Z. Virani 123, D.L. Ogada23, C. Kendall234, S. Thomsett23, P. Njoroge23

1The Peregrine Fund
2Raptor Working Group of Nature Kenya
3National Museums of Kenya
4Princeton University

Contact person:  Munir Virani, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0733-748922

Vulture populations in Kenya have declined dramatically during the past few decades.  Recent research in both the Masai Mara ecosystem and Laikipia District has shown dramatic declines in populations of these ecologically important scavenging birds.  In the Masai Mara, vulture populations have declined by 62% from 1976-2005. Populations of avian scavengers in Laikipia District have declined by 70% from 2001-2003. The most plausible cause of these declines is poisoning in which poisoned bait is used to kill lions and hyenas that have attacked livestock.  These untargeted baits have killed hundreds, likely thousands, of vultures and other scavengers in just the last decade alone.  Ongoing vulture research is examining how human activities, including land-use and poisoning, affect vultures in the Masai Mara.  Related research is investigating cultural attitudes and knowledge of vultures within the Masai community neighbouring the Reserve.  Finally, research in Laikipia is investigating the ecological effects of vulture declines on the scavenging community and rates of disease transmission at carcasses.  An appreciation and understanding of avian scavengers through increased public awareness will be critical in ensuring the long term survival of this assemblage.

Mobilizing and mainstreaming ecological information for sustainable development in eastern Africa

Caroline Lumosi and Prof. Nicholas Oguge
1Ecological Society for Eastern Africa, Tel: +254 020 250 4665, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
2 University of Nairobi, Environmental Policy Division, Centre for Advanced Studies in Environmental Law and Policy (CASELAP), Nairobi Kenya, Tel +254 722 702970, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Ecological Society for Eastern Africa (ESEA) is a non profit, membership based organization of professionals and institutions engaged in scientific research and management of species and ecosystems in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. The overarching objective of ESEA is to coordinate the collation and dissemination of information for sustainable natural resource management and conservation of biodiversity in eastern Africa. ESEA undertakes outreach and capacity building activities on biodiversity conservation for ecologist in the region. Through a database of experts, ESEA has created links of ecologist in the four eastern African countries and beyond. ESEA holds annual scientific conferences in member countries to provide opportunities for members to share knowledge and provide students with a forum to showcase their research findings, while addressing key environmental issues in the region.

ESEA endeavors to promote sustainable development through wise use of the natural resources for prosperity and future of the peoples of Eastern Africa this is to be achieved through high quality research, education, technological innovations and information and resource sharing. We are involved in conducting capacity building in ecological issues, harnessing and disseminating ecological information by organizing scientific conferences, networking ecologists in the region and partnering in projects and activities that are consistent with our objectives.


ACCESS HAPA
Analysis of Climate Change in Environmental and Social Studies through Historical Aerial Photography Archives

By Dr. Paolo Paron
Oxford University and Freelance Consultant
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Climate and land use changes impacts on biodiversity and the human society have deep roots in the 21st century. One of the major tools for monitoring and understanding these impacts is repeated highly resolved remotely-sensed data. Despite the power and importance of these investigation methods there is a fundamental problem with these data: their youth. There is a great, yet untapped, opportunity here: historical aerial photography archives. This poster illustrates a project aiming at bringing to a new –digital- life 1,5 million stereo-photography covering the former British colonies and other Commonwealth countries. These historical photos have been taken repeatedly over some countries during the period 1940s-1980s and are at scales of 1:30,000 to 1:60,000. Actually they are only in hardcopies in the dungeons of two libraries. Once they will be turned digital and georeferenced they will be released for free to the wider global audience for non-commercial uses and will be then available to draw new baselines for environmental change analysis, extending 40 years backward in time our mapping capacity of environmental change. Together with the scientific findings, one of the main outputs of this project will be the provision of new data to guide new –scientifically sound- policy proposals.


Community Based Integrated Forest Resource Management Project

Potential of Involving Smallholder Farmers in Maasai Mau Forest Catchment (MMC) In Carbon Offset Scheme for Climate Change Mitigation

Atela Joanes1: Intern, UNEP-Mau Programme/Graduate Student Bonn University, Germany, DEPI Intern22-Joanes Atela, jatela@uni-bonn.deTel: 0736120709

Richard Kaguamba: Programme Manager (Forests) UNEP-Terrestrial Ecosystem Unit

Mario Boccucci: Chief Terrestrial Ecosystem Unit-UNEP

The Community Based Integrated Forest Resource Management (COMIFORM) project by UNEP, targets carbon offset to integrate Maasai Mau forest restoration and climate change mitigation and adaptation. To provide a scientific basis for such, present land use types and allocations in thirty representatives plots of size 2-6ha located in 3 socio-ecologically representative administrative locations of the MMC were identified. Carbon baseline was determined using the IPCC and Winrock-bio-carbon guidelines. The baseline and farmers land use preferences (conjoint valuation) was used to project carbon scenarios and expected gains compared to other existing/potential land use options. Farmers allocate larger portion of land (36%) to food crops compared other uses though with negative correlation with land size at p=0.000. Cash crop and fodder were negatively correlated at p=0.000.  The average carbon stock per plot was 18.06tCha-1 though characterized by wide variations across the topo-levels and plot sizes (ecosystem complexity). Farmers are willing to commit an average of 18.6% of their land for woodlots for a carbon offset programme. The percent of land to be committed, waiting period and utilization of co-benefits were the significant factors in the carbon offset land use preferences. Based on projected scenarios, high underlying carbon offset potential can be reported.

Key words: carbon baseline, land use preference, carbon offsetting, livelihood, mitigation

The influence of Landscape heterogeneity on amphibian species richness in Malaga province, Spain
Peter Karuiki

Amphibians are a good health indicator of environmental conditions due to their habitat requirements and physiological nature. They are moisture dependant ectotherms and require both aquatic and terrestrial habitats to exist. Factors that influence habitat selection are varied in species; amphibians utilize different environments during their lifetime. In this study we want to investigate whether there is a relationship between landscape heterogeneity (land cover diversity and altitude standard deviation) and the spatial variation of amphibian species richness and its relative influence in comparison to other primary determinants using regression and correlation analysis. Furthermore we also want to investigate whether the amphibian species richness varies across different land cover types using ANOVA. The study was carried out in Malaga province, Southern Spain. Land cover diversity and altitude standard deviation did not have a significant correlation to amphibian species richness variation. Climate variables such as evapotranspiration and temperature during the hottest month (july) are of more importance than landscape heterogeneity variables, with a significant correlation of 0.269 and -0.290 respectively at an R2 of 0.214, in determining the variation of amphibian species richness. Other important determinants are slope (correlation = -0.260) and human population density (correlation = -0.10). The study highlights that the variation in species richness of amphibians is still primarily influenced by energy/water balance (measured as evapotranspiration) and energy (measured as temperature)

Conserving biodiversity AND improving livelihoods in African Heartlands

Helen Gichohi et al., African Wildlife Foundation (AWF)
Britak Centre, Mara Ragati Road, P.O. Box 48177, 00100, Nairobi, Kenya
tel: +254· 20 · 2710367, fax: +254 · 20·2710372
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Key Words:  Biodiversity Conservation, Climate Change Mitigation, Land and Species Conservation

The mission of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is to work together with the people of Africa to ensure the wildlife and wild lands of Africa will endure forever.
Kenya’s landscapes are threatened by rapid land use change, the impacts of climate change, and habitat loss. AWF’s science based African Heartlands Program, a large-landscape scale approach to conservation, aims to mitigate these threats to achieve ecological, economic and social sustainability through a diversity of innovative tools and approaches including:
•    comprehensive land use planning based on scientific conservation targets, threats, goals, and socioeconomic development; and formally adopted;
•    protection of critical habitats through protected area support, formation and development of community conservancies, and protection of wildlife corridors and dispersal areas;
•    income generation for communities to support conservation through tourism, livestock, non-timber products and payment for ecosystem services enterprises; and equitable benefit sharing mechanisms;
•    capacity building through training individuals and institutions; and
•    climate change adaptation and mitigation programs including carbon offset programs to support community forest protection and alternative energies and livelihoods.

Modeling the dynamics of migrations of Large Mammal Populations in the Parks of Kenya: Amboseli National Park

Victor Nyaliki Mose
African Conservation Centre (ACC)
0720 323 683
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In recent years the pressures on Africa’s wildlife has intensified due to rising human population, settlements, farming, conflict between people and wild animals and shift in climate patterns. Resource availability may be a strong influencing factor in the structuring of African ungulate populations in terms of species richness, dominance and diversity.  This hypothesis has been explored in several cross-sectional ecosystems comparison studies but it has not been fully addressed in any modeling studies The research project involves the creation of a multi-habitat  and multi-species grazing model on the Amboseli Park and the surrounding ecosystem. We will develop a model of animal movement in a network consisting of two-dimensional grids (5kmx5km) connected by migration. This division into grids  corresponds to the spatial distribution of data collected by the African Conservation Centre (ACC) for over 40 years.(Western,2009) Each habitat  is characterized by fodder, water and physical characteristics (temperature, rainfall  etc). Distributions of densities of animals will be obtained by the simulation model and face, calibrated and validation from field data. Subsequently, the displacement model will be coupled to a model of population dynamics, resource (forage) and animals.
Key Words: Population dynamics, Multi-species, Multi-habitat, Amboseli

Plants diversity and improvement of livelihoods in Africa: Justification for documentation

Chege J.*, Matu E.N. and E. Achigan-Dako
Institutions: Plant Resources of Tropical Africa, KEMRI
Keywords: Plants, livelihoods, climate change, information
* Tel No. 7224783| Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

An estimated 8, 000 of the approximately 30,000 species of higher plants occurring in tropical Africa are used by man. Wild and semi-domesticated plants make a vital contribution to livelihoods, particularly amongst the poorest. They provide food, medicine, fuel, construction and clothing materials. These plant resources are however subject to degradation caused by population pressure, industrialization, and unsustainable use. The threat of climate change also calls for development of interventions rooted in environmental sustainability. It is therefore imperative that information on these useful plants is documented and effectively disseminated as a basis for sustainable ecosystem management and improved livelihoods. A major factor contributing to under-exploitation is lack of readily available consolidated information.  PROTA endeavours to re-package the world literature on useful African plants in form of web-databases (PROTA4U), handbooks and CD-ROM series. Such consolidated and readily available information allows for timely identification, conservation and use of promising species for food, income generation, medicine development, environmental protection and adaptation to climate change.

ABSTRACT – ECOLOGICAL GAP ANALYSIS (EGA)
Wycliffe Mutero, Charles Musyoki, Lucy Waruinge, David Western, Peter Mwangi, Simon Kang’ethe, Emily Wabuyele, Mohammed Said, Shem Kifugo, Norbert Henninger, Festus Ihwagi, Gordon Ojwang, Pauline Okeyo
EGA is a method to identify biodiversity not adequately protected within a protected area framework or through other effective and long-term conservation measures.   It aims at developing a strategy and an action plan to ensure the protection of this biodiversity.   Ultimately, EGA aims at the conservation of biodiversity into perpetuity.
Whereas a formal and comprehensive EGA has not been done for Kenya, many activities and initiatives that are closely related to EGA have been undertaken.  These include the minimum viable conservation area (MVCA) exercise that was undertaken in 1997, 2007 and 2010.  

For the purposes of this conference, preliminary steps towards an EGA exercise for Kenya have been undertaken.  These include the following.  Several focal biodiversity have been identified.  Data on boundaries for many conservancies and sanctuaries have been compiled.  Several datasets on major taxa  such as mammals, plants and birds have been assembled. These data have been overlayed on the Kenyan map together with other important data such as those on wildlife protected areas and forests.  These data give a visual picture of biodiversity that is currently outside Kenya’s protected area system and which needs a concerted strategy and action plan for its protection.

Vetiver Systems to assist rehab of biodiversity on-farm and for infrastructure

by Elise Pinners, Director of TVNI

Key theme:  technology to enhance ecosystem services and assist rehab of biodiversity

Introduction
The functionality of ecosystems in Kenya is degrading, with disastrous consequences:
-    Soil loss costs 3 to 4 times Kenya’s annual income from tourism,  30-40 t/ha
-    Floods and landslides affect hundreds of thousands of people annually, claiming dozens
-    This exacerbates the effect of dry spells and droughts
-    And reducing the capacity to treat waste water, it puts safe water resources under pressure.
Annually floods and droughts combined cost over 2% of Kenya’s GDP.
Most hospital visits are caused by contaminated water.

Solutions for restoration
To bring back the functionality of ecosystems, to reverse of the loss of biomass and biodiversity, Vetiver Systems provides cost-effective bio-engineering technology that provides:
-    a highly effective method  for soil conservation on farm land, visibly raising yields through improved infiltration, micro-climate and insect bio-diversity
-    support for rehab of waste land and gullies, for more speedy return of natural vegetation
-    highly effective vegetative measures to protect infrastructure: embankments of roads, waterways, dams and dikes, facilitating the return of local plant species. creating habitat for birds and insects, making use of local inputs and allowing local contracting.

Vetiver System
At the heart of the Vetiver System is the plant - Chrysopogon zizanioides, commonly known as vetiver grass, a clump grass originating in south India. There are many cultivars of vetiver grass but those originating from south India are sterile and non invasive. It is these cultivars that TVNI promotes for use for the Vetiver System.
Moisture is the critical factor in most of Kenya’s ecosystems. Vetiver planted as a semi-permeable hedge reduces the speed of water and soil loss, enhancing infiltration, improving micro-climate, to allow crops or natural vegetation to benefit. Through its vigorous growth it produces a lot of biomass and an impressive, deeply penetrating soil binding root system. The perennial hedges, unlike grass strips, can resist drought and the stiff stems keep up a functional barrier throughout the dry season, ready for the first and most devastating rains.

The Role of Pastoralists Indigenous Knowledge in Monitoring the Impact of Climate Change on Biodiversity at landscape level

Hassan G. Roba1 and Gufu Oba2
1National Museums of Kenya. P.O.Box 40658 00100 Nairobi. Email. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Tel.0722982240

2Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric). Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 1432, Ås Norway.  Email. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Arid and semi arid environment characterized by greater spatial and temporal vegetation and rainfall variability is highly susceptible to climate related biodiversity changes. Monitoring the effects of predicted changes on biodiversity at land use level requires innovative approaches including application of indigenous knowledge of local communities. This study explored the role of pastoral indigenous knowledge in mitigation of climate change on biodiversity in the arid environment of northern Kenya. Community interviews and participatory biodiversity assessment and monitoring were used to generate the data used in the analysis. We observed that pastoral production in northern Kenya has remained resilient due to detailed knowledge of livestock husbandry and management of grazing resources at landscape scale.  Livestock production attributes (e.g Milk volume, mating frequency, body condition) are closely monitored as proxy indicators for changes in environment.  Herders associate each landscape with unique fodder species assemblage and were able to point out species that have either disappeared or on decline and also identify species that were on increasing trend (invasive), and those which have remained stable over the years. Adaptation to climate change in arid and semi arid environment therefore can benefit from a robust biodiversity assessment and monitoring system that integrate ecological and indigenous ecological knowledge.

Key words: Biodiversity; Climate change, Indigenous Knowledge

Patterns of tree diversity for conservation in smallholder coffee systems of Mount Kenya

Sammy Carsan, 2Aldo Stroebel, 3Ramni Jamnadass, 4Frans Swanepoel, Roeland Kindt & 5Fabrice Pinard
1,2,4Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. 1,3,5World Agroforestry Centre, United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, Nairobi, Kenya.

Interest in combining conservation and development goals has resulted in greater attention paid to agro-ecosystems. Due to biophysical and anthropogenic changes in coffee systems, they are prone to biodiversity loss. Using species pattern detection techniques such as species accumulation curves, rènyi diversity profiles, species rank abundance and composite diversity indices, vegetation community in parts of the Mount Kenya coffee systems were characterized to better understand farm managed tree diversity. At least 190 species are recorded from 182 coffee farm plots (quadrats). For all the species enumerated, alpha diversity (H0) = 5.25 and H∞ = 0.89. The large value of Ho means a fairly high level of species richness (190 species) for all sites together, while the slightly low H∞ value shows that most surveyed sites have high proportions of the dominant species. Actual results in terms of species distribution show that the 10 and 25 most abundant species comprise of 75% and 91% trees available on farm respectively. Invariably species basal area distribution for the 10 and 20 most abundant species, account for 81% and 91% of trees present respectively. Data suggests preference of limited species per farm and steep species unevenness between farms. Grevillea robusta is highly ranked in terms of relative density and dominance across farm plots at proportions of 41 %. Species basal area distribution show that fruit trees such as, Persea americana, Mangifera indica and timber species such as, Cordia africana, Vitex keniensis and Croton macrostachyus are the most dominant but are of lower relative density. Species diversity gradient by the coffee agro-ecological zones presented shows the upper marginal zone three (UM3) is ranked higher than UM2 and UM1. Data shows that farmers with larger levels of coffee (Coffea arabica L.) production tend to retain more species diversity than farmers with stagnated production. In conclusion, skewed patterns of species heterogeneity and structure among smallholder coffee are indicators of divergent species preferences and retention. Though richness abounds on coffee farms, its uneven distribution between farms is influenced by different agro-ecological zones, adopted maize cultivation method and levels of coffee production. Despite high richness contributed by native species (73%) compared to exotics (27%), tree abundance on coffee plots is dominated by a few exotics. Tree basal area distribution indicates longer retention for exotic fruit and native timber species. Species in these use-groups could therefore be important for circa situ conservation especially if the current vegetation community is considered for genetic resources provisioning.

Maintaining biodiversity through conservation enterprise development for environmental resource use to enhance livelihoods

Godfrey Masinde, Johnson Ole Sipitiek
African Conservation Centre (ACC), Nairobi, Kenya
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For a decade, community has played a major role in landscape management.  A disruption of the vital untapped resources has had demand that require community good will in managing the land sustainably that will improve community livelihoods.

Conservation development works with local communities to enhance their capacities through training, emancipatory leaning exposure visits and through seminar and workshops. Due to population increase environmental resources have continued to realize increased pressure and this has resulted to environmental pollution, degradation, desertification, deforestation that leads to climate change

There have been concerted efforts to integrate management of natural recourses by stakeholders and the target communities have established strategies to cope with environmental challenges. Strategies in place includes, establishment of conservancy areas, tree planting, reseeding program and mainstreaming gender. Conservation enterprises have also been established to generate income for both men and women to alleviate poverty, such as Sampu Camp , Loisijjo, Shompole lodge in Magadi, Twala culture center in Laikipia ,  Losho, Ololaaimutia cultural villages and  Nekishon women camp in Maasai Mara. In policing the conservancy’s model we have community game scouts network in Amboseli, Magadi and Suswa.

Key words: Conservancy, livelihoods, integrated management, environment.

Impacts of Geothermal exploration Projects on the Biodiversity of Menengai Caldera, Kenya

Jackson Akama Raini and Isaac Munyeki
Friends of Menengai Crater Trust. P.O Box 13493-20100, Nakuru Kenya.
Tel: +722165699, +733349620; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Web: www.friendsofmenengai.org

Biodiversity assessments in the Menengai Caldera with regard to plants, invertebrates, birds, reptiles and mammals were conducted. Results show 8 vegetation types, 186 plant types and 14 species of orchids. There was no endemic, rare or new plant species recorded.
Invertebrates comprised of 60 species in the Orders Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera, Gastropoda and Coleopteran. 234 bird species were recorded of which, 2 species are near threatened globally, 5 are vulnerable globally,   20 are Palaearctic migrants, 12 are  Afrotropic migrants, 4 are Palaearctic/Afrotropic migrants and 11 are  rare sighting. 

Mammals comprised 21 species, including Procavia capensis, Redunca fulvorfula, Sylvicapra grimmia and Raphicerus campestris. Bats include the rare Large-eared leaf-nosed bat (Hipposideros megalotis) and Seasonal Free-Tail bats.   Reptiles include; pythons, snakes, lizards, chameleons. Amphibians include; Hyperolius virdiflavus virdiflavus, Mascarine frog (Ptychadena mascariensis).

The caldera’s biodiversity is impacted by Geothermal Development projects through infrastructural development activities e.g. housing, site clearing, excavation, site access & vehicular movement, construction of access roads, power cables & transmission lines and water pipes and drilling geothermal wells. Community impacts include deforestation, illegal logging, fire, charcoal burning, poaching, overgrazing and wood-fuel.
The paper describes the calderas’ biodiversity, project impacts and mitigation measures.
Key words: caldera, biodiversity, geothermal, impacts