Canada Donates Sh80m for Climate Change Adaptation in National Parks

 NAIROBI--The Canadian government has donated Sh80 million to support Kenya’s efforts in coping with adverse effects of climate change in national parks.  Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) received the grant from the Canadian government through Parks Canada as part of the First Start Climate Change Programme.  

The one-year grant amounting to 990,000 Canadian dollars will highlight the importance of national parks in climate change adaptation and enhanced ecosystem services around conservation areas in Kenya.  

The pilot project will involve adaptation and mitigation activities aimed at enhancing the resilience of protected areas to climate change effects. 

The project is being implemented in six key protected areas in Kenya. These are Amboseli National Park, Tsavo Conservation Area, Mt. Kenya and Aberdare Forests and Lake Nakuru National Park. It is the first of its kind in Kenya.

It aims at ensuring the conservation efforts are undertaken to support climate change, while enhancing visitor experience in the national parks and ensuring conservation education is undertaken to communities and schools surrounding the parks. 

The Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystems are Kenya’s tourism flagship and are connected through movement of animals, flow of water and movement of people. Lake Nakuru National Park (a World Heritage Site) comprises a shallow, strongly alkaline lake, with surrounding woodland and grassland. The park supports a wide ecological diversity with flamingos (greater and lesser) and other birds being the major visitor attraction.  

Due to land use changes, degradation of natural resources and effects of climate change, the ecological integrity of these conservation areas is diminishing, with rising human-wildlife conflicts.  

This support is coming at a time when climate change is a reality in Kenya as depicted by variation in weather patterns, unpredictable levels of water in lakes and rivers, frequent and prolonged occurrence of droughts and floods, and other environmental disasters.  

These occurrences have adverse impacts on the Kenyan economy and livelihoods of the population which largely depends on natural resources such as water, land, plants and animals.

Wildlife and tourism sectors, which support a large proportion of the Gross Domestic Product, are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The support by Parks Canada goes along way to address some of these challenges. 

Kenya Wildlife Service and Parks Canada signed a Memorandum of Understanding in November 2006.

The objectives of the MOU are to share the experience of Parks Canada and  Kenya Wildlife Service related to management of national parks, and support the capacity of the KWS in the specific areas of greater park ecosystem planning and management; monitoring and assessment of ecosystem condition; stakeholder involvement and conflict management; providing memorable visitor experiences; policy development and implementation; and governance and accountability structures.