Conservation and Community in Kenya: Milking the Elephant

Carolyn K. Lesorogol

doi:10.5771/9781793650306

Summary

Community-based wildlife conservation is promoted as a win-win solution for wildlife and people that protects biodiversity while improving the economic status of communities living among wildlife. This book, based on mixed-method anthropological research conducted in Samburu County, Kenya, demonstrates that, counter to simple narratives promising benefits, community-based wildlife conservancies (CBCs) are complex social institutions layered on pre-existing land use practices with differential impacts for members. Through in-depth research in three communities, Carolyn K. Lesorogol explains how diverse social actors understand and operate CBCs, how benefits and costs are distributed, the gendered nature of CBCs, and how they impact cooperation and conflict in communities. Lesorogol’s analysis shows that economic benefits to members are generally very limited, and while many perceive improvements in security emanating from CBCs, there is also evidence that they heighten tensions over land use as well as human-wildlife conflict. Looking toward the future, the book includes recommendations for improving the effectiveness and accountability of CBCs. Conservation and Community in Kenya: Milking the Elephant offers critical insights into the implications of the CBC model for local pastoralist livelihoods, conservation, and social relations.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2022
Copyright Year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-7936-5029-0
ISBN-Online: 978-1-7936-5030-6
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 226
Product Type: Monograph

1. Dedication No access
2. Contents No access
3. 1. Figures No access
  2. Tables No access
4. Acknowledgments No access
1. Prologue No access
2. Wildlife Conservation and Pastoralism No access
3. Community-Based Conservancies No access
4. Conservancies and Pastoralist Resilience No access
5. 1. Institutions and Change No access
  2. Cooperation and Collective Action No access
  3. Political Ecology No access
6. Overview of the Book No access
1. Backing into Conservation Research No access
2. 1. Samburu Social Organization No access
  2. Basics of Pastoral Production No access
3. Group Ranches—Pastoralism on Collectively Owned Land No access
4. Community-Based Conservancies No access
5. Research Methods for this Study No access
6. Notes No access
1. CBC Organizational Structure No access
2. How the CBC Boards and Committees Function No access
3. 1. Household Demographics No access
  2. CBC Rules: The Dos and Don’ts, but Mostly Don’ts No access
  3. Following and Breaking Rules No access
4. Institutional Layering No access
5. Notes No access
1. Benefits and Costs of CBCs No access
2. Household Well-being No access
3. Conclusion No access
1. Gender: Practical and Strategic No access
2. Gender and Power in the Samburu Context No access
3. Gender and Conservation No access
4. Shifting Approaches to Gender in Conservation Programming No access
5. Beadwork is Women’s Work No access
6. Beyond Beads: Women, Leadership, and Livelihood No access
7. Conclusion No access
8. Note No access
1. Peace No access
2. Respect No access
3. Understanding Conflict No access
4. Sharing: Can Wildlife and Livestock Share the Range? No access
5. Cooperation and Reciprocity No access
6. Conclusion No access
7. Notes No access
1. Where to from Here? No access
Bibliography No access Pages 209 - 220
Index No access Pages 221 - 224
About the Author No access Pages 225 - 226