The Greater Kilimanjaro area – a 25,623 km2 transboundary landscape that spans the Kenya–Tanzania border – is a critical region for elephant, lion and other species. Effective collaboration between local communities, NGOs and national wildlife authorities has proven successful in anti-poaching efforts, and more broadly in protecting the region’s wildlife.
The project, which brings together communities, the African Wildlife Foundation, Big Life Foundation, Kenya Wildlife Service, Tanzania Wildlife Division and Tanzania National Parks, started in 2001. Joint transborder patrolling, increased coordination amongst all parties, mobile units and sharing of intelligence has resulted in a poaching decline. Between 2013 and 2014 the Kenyan side recorded a 54 per cent decrease in elephant poaching, while there has been no known elephant poaching on the Tanzanian side since 2012.
This case study was originally prepared as a background document for the symposium “Beyond enforcement: Communities, governance, incentives and sustainable use in combating wildlife crime”, held in South Africa from 26 to 28 February 2015.
The case study was originally published as part of the compilation Conservation, crime and communities, published by IIED (2015) http://pubs.iied.org/14648IIED (ISBN: 978-1-78431-140-7)
Cite this publication
Available at https://www.iied.org/g04332