Tourism CS urges Partners to Support Wildlife Census
Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Wanjiku Miano has called on development partners to support Sh. 300 million one-year wildlife census exercise set to end on June 2025
Miano said the data and information obtained will inform the formulation of more effective wildlife conservation strategies across Kenya’s landscapes and help boost the tourism sector.
She said the census sought to determine the wildlife population, distribution, changing trends and to identify the challenges that had resulted in habitat losses and wildlife mortalities during the 2022 drought.
The CS was speaking Wednesday at Wildlife Research and Training Institute in Naivasha during the 22nd graduation ceremony where 282 students were awarded certificates and diplomas in various wildlife and tourism-related courses.
The census happens at a time when country’s wildlife faced numerous challenges including increasing human and livestock populations, a rise of infectious zoonotic diseases and climate change issues resulting in drought and flooding.
She said the exercise was vital for protecting Kenya’s wildlife heritage and ecological sustainability adding that it would resolve issues of Wildlife farming and economy to reverse bush meat menace.
Key stakeholders like Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), National Census Planning Committee, Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association, and Conservation Alliance of Kenya are taking part in this exercise.
The CS additionally announced that the curriculum of the WRTI was under review in a bid to align it to the standards of Competence Based Education while urging WRTI Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director Dr. Patrick Omondi to accelerate the completion of the process and acquire the necessary approvals to pave the way for implementation.
She further said the Tourism Fund had set aside a Tourism Training Evolving Fund, managed by the Higher Education Loans Board, that was meant accord more opportunities to WRTI students.
Source: Kenya News Agency
