Pre-ConferenceSeptember 13 – 14, 2010
Louis Leakey Memorial Hall, National Museums of Kenya
In recognition of the 2010 year of Biodiversity and as a build up to the Kenya’s Conference on Biodiversity, Climate Change and Landuse, Pre-Conference lectures open to the public were held on 13 – 14 September 2010 (Monday at Tuesday) from 2:00pm – 4:30 pm at the Louis Leakey Auditorium, National Museums of Kenya. The following are abstracts on presentations delivered at the event.
Between the past discord and the future collaboration
: A case of wildlife conservation in southern Kenya
Toshio Megure
University of Tokyo/JSPS
This presentation discusses how to realize collaboration of local people and outsiders for biodiversity conservation. The paradigm of biodiversity conservation has changed from “fortress conservation” to “community-based conservation” (CBC) in the 1990s, and now “environmental governance” is proposed as a next one. While CBC attached importance to local conservation initiative generated from the experiences of receiving/acquiring wildlife benefits, environmental governance places emphasis on deliberation among stakeholders on different scales so as to exchange and reflect on their observations and views, and to reach a consensus acceptable to all concerned. In Amboseli Ecosystem, southern Kenya, a CBC initiative led to hoped-for community development, and local people thought conservation was important. However, the discrepancy between the definitions of conservation by local people and outsiders existed. The local people actually disagreed with the conservation goal set by the outsiders. From the viewpoint of CBC, the failure is attributed to the insufficient empowerment, but collaboration with role sharing among various stakeholders is a practical way. Deliberation is necessary in order to dissolve the contradictory understanding of conservation, and the comprehension of locally-endured cost of conservation and the establishment of trust between stakeholders against past negative memories are the big challenges in Kenya’s context.
Does sewage input affect the feeding efficiency of Fiddler crabs; Uca annulipes(H.milne Edwards)?
M.A. Owuor, S. Cannicci, P.A. Aloo and J. G.Kairo
Feeding efficiency of fiddler crabs; Uca annulipes was studied in two mangrove stands along the Kenyan coast exposed to different levels of pollution. Mikindani mangroves in Tudor creek represent peri urban mangrove heavily impacted by municipal waste water. Whereas as Gazi mangroves in the south coast of Kenya had no direct sewage input. The study was initiated to provide information that may be potentially interesting to trophic studies in mangrove and as a functional indicator of ecosystem functioning, because of the role played by this faunal component (crabs) in the mangrove ecosystem. In each of the study sites, sampling was carried out in open and forested stands of Avicennia marina zones. A total of 98 samples of feeding pellets and non-processed sediment were collected for chlorophyll-a analysis. Preliminary results show that there was a significantly lower (p=0.006) chlorophyll-a concentration between sites with Gazi having 1.968 ± 0.514 mgChla/ and Mikindani (3.455±2.447 mgChla/g. Similarly, there was a significant difference (p=0.002) in chlorophyll-a concentration within the zones in Mikindani with Avicennia zone having 3.455±2.447 mgChla/g and open zones having 1.450±1.737 mgChla/g. This shows that pollution has some effect on the feeding efficiency and abundance of the Uca crabs that are deposit feeders and benefit from nutrient enrichment.
Vulture declines in Kenya
M.Z. Virani, D.L. Ogada, C. Kendall, S. Thomsett, P. Njoroge
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.
Monitoring Climate Change using Sensor Networks and Mobile
Muthoni Masinde , Dr. Antoine Bagula , Prof. John Muthama
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 macro- infrastructures 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-the- shelf 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.
Vetiver Systems to assist rehab of biodiversity on-farm and for infrastructure
Elise Pinners, Director of TVNI
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.
CONSERVATION OF KENYA’s AGROBIODIVERSITY FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS AND STABILITY OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVE SYSTEMS
Dr. Dan Kiambi and Simon Kage (African Biodiversity Conservation and Innovations Centre)
Kenya is endowed with rich plant diversity as a result of a wide range of habitats and environmental heterogeneity. The country is home to an estimated 7,500 plant species and 475 of these species are endemic while 258 are threatened. The Ethiopian centre of crop origin and diversity spreads to some parts of the country and the diversity of some of the major food crops including sorghum, millet and sesame in form of landraces, farmer varieties and crop wild relatives is very high. In addition, the country harbours thousands of economically important wild plants that are used as a source of food, fodder, medicines, gums and resins among other uses. However, the diversity of these unique genetic resources is threatened by a multiplicity of factors including introduction of improved crop varieties, population pressure on land, changes in land use, over exploitation, drought and pests and diseases. It is imperative therefore that an integrated approach comprising ex situ and in situ conservation strategies is developed in order to conserve these genetic resources as an insurance against future adversities, including climate change, and also ensure they are available on the long term for use in crop improvement programs, sustenance of people’s livelihoods and stability of agricultural production systems.
