Pastoral communities are set to benefit from a new fund supporting wildlife conservation, land restoration and livelihoods from December 2026.
The Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund (WCTF) will finance community-led projects to restore degraded grazing land, control invasive species, address human-wildlife conflict and support young people in conservation.
In Laikipia, women’s groups removing the invasive prickly pear cactus from rangelands are among those who could benefit.
WCTF chief executive Caroline Tullo said the fund would prioritise training to help communities develop the technical skills needed to access funding for conservation projects.
“The first among many is actually the issue of capacity building to ensure the community is technically able to access the funding that will help them in their conservation initiatives,” she said.
Tullo spoke in Nanyuki during a meeting with conservancies and conservation practitioners to gather community priorities for the fund’s first strategic plan, covering 2025 to 2030.
She said young people in Laikipia would also be supported through training and funding for youth-led conservation projects, research and efforts to reduce human-wildlife conflict.
The fund will support conservation inside and outside protected areas, where communities often bear the cost of living alongside wildlife.
Tullo said the fund was developing policies and funding guidelines to guide the allocation of resources once the strategic plan was launched in November.
“Once the strategic plan is launched and the funding guidelines are ready, the fund should be able to take off from December 2026,” she said.
WCTF board member George Mosiori said the consultations were intended to identify funding gaps and ensure the strategic plan reflected the needs of conservation groups.
“Our primary duty is to mobilise resources, not as an end user but as a channel, and then distribute them to conservancies and other actors, both state and non-state,” he said.
Francis ole Nantiri, a representative of Lekuruki Conservancy, said the fund could strengthen the relationship between communities and wildlife by linking conservation to improved livelihoods.
He said restoring degraded grazing land would improve pasture for livestock while protecting wildlife habitats.
Nantiri also urged the government to speed up compensation for losses caused by wildlife, saying human-wildlife conflict remained a major challenge for communities.
He warned that many community conservancies were struggling financially, limiting their ability to sustain conservation and daily operations.
“Most of these community conservancies are not financially stable. If they can strengthen their sustainability initiatives and generate funding to support their operations, that would be a key support,” Nantiri said.
He said the spread of prickly pear cactus was reducing grazing land for livestock and wildlife, threatening livelihoods and damaging the ecosystem.
Nantiri said controlling the invasive plant would help communities reclaim grazing areas and restore the landscape.
He added that ecotourism offered another way for conservancies to raise money for conservation and create jobs for residents, noting Laikipia’s scenic attractions could draw more visitors.
The WCTF is a government financing mechanism established under the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act, 2013, to mobilise resources for wildlife and biodiversity conservation.
Its strategic plan aims to create a framework for funding conservation projects while strengthening the capacity of communities living alongside wildlife to protect Kenya’s natural heritage.
