Biodiversity Conference: Day 1

The Kenya International Conference on Biodiversity, Land Use and Climate Change got off to a slow start today but showed much promise. Plenary presentations by KWS and the Tourism Board of Kenya quickly challenged attendees with the substantive problems at hand. Highlights of the day included Dr. Julius Kipn'getich and Dr. David Western. Dr. Kipn'getich eloquently described the many challenges facing Kenya and the broader East Africa region. Issues such as unconstrained population growth and a changing climate threaten the welfare of both humans and wildlife alike. Dr. Western made a simple but profound criticism: protected areas in their current form are wholly ineffectual at curbing the systemic loss of biodiversity. One key fact describes this dismal reality: species loss within protected areas (PAs) is roughly equivalent to that outside of protected areas. While the ineffectiveness of PAs may be intuited or presumed, it is another reality altogether to be presented with irrefutable facts describing the inadequacy of this foundational protective measure. An eye opening day indeed.

You can read more in the conference notes for Day 1.

Kenya Int'l Conference on Biodiversity, Land Use, and Climate Change

On behalf of GLOWS and FIU, I will be attending the upcoming biodiversity conference in Nairobi. For those of you not able to attend, I will be distributing notes from the presentations and panels. The agenda appears to be quite exciting and extremely relevant to the work of the GLOWS partners in the Mara Basin. I expect lively discussions and am hoping for more than wholly academic debate. Check back for daily updates this Wednesday through Friday.

New LVBC Research Fund for the Mara River Basin

Announced on 21 July, the LVBC has signed MOUs with three universities to facilitate applied research in the Basin. The selected universities are Ardhi University (Tanzania), Egerton University (Kenya) and Maseno University (Kenya). The purpose of the MOUs is to facilitate improved management of water resources within the basin by building on the previous work of the EFA and BSAP. Initial funding of $60,000 USD will be divided equally among the universities to facilitate the applied research of "wildlife and habitat conservation; conservation enterprise; and, capacity building and leadership".

This collaboration between LVBC and these universities is exciting news for those interested in further enhancing our capacity to effectively manage the Mara River Basin. In addition to LVBC's work, another collaborative effort exists between UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education and four parter universities: University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Egerton University (Kenya), Sokoine University of Agriculture (Tanzania), and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (Kenya). UNESCO-IHE is currently funding the research of 4 PhD students (3 at UNESCO-IHE, 1 at UDSM) with the objective of developing a better understanding of the relationships between flow regime, water quality, and aquatic ecosystems. GLOWS will be providing funding to facilitate further research by 8 additional MSc students selected from the partner institutions. GLOWS will be facilitating this work over the coming months.

You can find out more about the LVBC initiative on their website, and about the MaraFlows program at the UNESCO-IHE website. Congratulations to LVBC staff and supporters on this exciting and important work.