Landscape governance through partnerships: lessons from Amboseli, Kenya

Figures & data

Figure 1. The Amboseli landscape and its location in Kenya (adopted from Okello et al., 2011).

Table 1. AET partners.

Category	Partner	Partner’s main focus
Local communities	Amboseli-Tsavo Group Ranch Conservation Association (ATGRCA)	A community-based organisation aimed at enhancing benefit accrual from wildlife
	Amboseli/Tsavo Game Scouts Association (ATGSA)	An umbrella organisation comprising of community wildlife scouts^13 aimed at improving wildlife security in the group ranches
Government	Kenya Wildlife Service	A parastatal organisation that conserves and manages wildlife in Kenya and its protected areas
	Kajiado County	Regional government
	Water Resource Authority (WRA)	A parastatal organisation that regulates the management and use of water resources for sustainability
Conservation NGOs	African Conservation Center	Developing local people’s capacity to conserve biodiversity and improve livelihoods by building institutions
	African Wildlife Foundation	Wildlife habitat expansion and connectivity
	International Fund for Animal Welfare	Protecting elephant populations, seeking to expand their habitat
	Conservation-tourism, private-investor based NGOs	Wildlife-based tourism businesses and protecting wildlife
	Amboseli Trust for Elephants	Elephant conservation through research, community outreach, and advocacy
	Big Life Foundation	Enhancing wildlife conservation and livelihoods
Research institutes	School for Field Studies (SFS)	Research
Others^14	Water Resource Users Association (WRUA)	An association of water resource users and riparian landowners aimed at cooperatively sharing the water

Figure 2. Schematic timeline.

Table 2. Landscape governance roles of partnerships.

Landscape governance role	Operationalisation	References
Agenda-setting	Efforts made by the partnership to bring new debates, issues, and/or ideas to the public domain in Amboseli	Visseren-Hamakers (2013)
2. Policy development	How the partnership has contributed to developing policies, rules and/or norms that guide the governance of the Amboseli landscape in terms of conservation and development	Selsky and Parker (2005); Visseren-Hamakers (2013)
3. Information sharing	How the partnership facilitates information collection, analysis, and dissemination among actors in the area	Gemmill and Bamidele-Izu (2002); Pinkse and Kolk (2012)
4. Capacity building	How the partnership enhances actors’ ability (in terms of social, financial, human, and technical resources) to take part in governance processes in the Amboseli landscape	Mert and Pattberg (2015); Stone (2015)
5. Policy implementation	Efforts made by the partnership to enable, execute and/or enforce conservation and development policies or strategies that have been agreed upon in Amboseli	Crabbé and Leroy (2012); Visseren-Hamakers (2013)
6. Meta-governance	Strategic steering and coordination efforts by the partnership aimed at improving governance in Amboseli through coherence and enabling synergy	Derkx and Glasbergen (2014); Visseren-Hamakers & Glasbergen (2007); Visseren-Hamakers et al. (2012)

Table 3. Interviews and interviewees.

Category	Interviewee Affiliation	Number of interviewees [and interviews]
NGOs	African Wildlife Foundation	4 [8]
	African Conservation Center	4 [7]
	International Fund for Animal Welfare	2 [3]
	Amboseli Trust for Elephants	1 [1]
	Olive Branch Mission	2 [4]
	Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust	3 [3]
Community	Mbirikani, Kimana, Olgulului Group Ranches	17 [17]
Government	Kenya Wildlife Service Kajiado County Government	6 [6]
		2 [2]
Partnerships	Amboseli Ecosystem Trust Big Life Foundation	2 [7] 3 [4]
Private investors	Sopa lodge, Amboseli Serena Amalgamated Chama Limited, Research consultant	4 (4)
Research	School of Field Studies	1 [3]
Community Based Organisations	Kenya Wildlife Conservancy Trust, Amboseli/Tsavo Game Scouts Association	2 [2] 2 [4]
Total		55 [75]

Table 4. Focus group discussions.

Number	Name	Number of participants
FGD-1	Siani Women Cultural Boma	10
FGD-2	Osiram Women Cultural Boma	15
FGD-3	Maasai youth	8
FGD-4	Maasai Elders	10

Table 5. Non-participant observations.

Number	Name	Venue
Obser-1	Conflict resolution meeting	Olgulului Group Ranch
Obser-2	AET stakeholder workshop	Sopa Lodge
Obser-3	IFAW/AWF Kitenden corridor consultation	Amboseli Serena lodge
Obser-4	Launch of IFAW/AWF Kitenden Corridor management Plan	Amboseli Serena lodge

Table 6. Landscape governance roles fulfilled by the partnerships.

Landscape governance role	Partnership
	Amboseli Ecosystem Trust	Big Life Foundation
Policy development [**]	AEMP development	Contributed as a member of AET
Meta-governance [*] [**]	Coordinated action among partners AEMP land-use zonation plan	Coordination of wildlife security in the landscape and beyond
Policy implementation [*]	AEMP gazettement	Wildlife security, PCF, Maasai Olympics
Information sharing	Integrated into all landscape governance roles	Integrated into all BLF programmes
Agenda-setting	Amboseli New City Namanga-Loitoktok Road	Wildlife conservation and security

[*] - Prominent role for BLF.

[**] - Prominent role for AET.

Table 7. Main power relations.

Power face	Power & the partnerships
Compulsory	Continued role of government (KWS) in development and implementation of AEMP Dominant position BLF in wildlife security and other policy implementations due to financial resources
Institutional	Mediation between actors by AET through its agenda-setting and meta-governance roles enabled by the AEMP Landownership of Maasai communities Significant role government in the development of AEMP through the Protected Area Policy Framework (PAPF)
Structural	Strengthening of conservation position of existing conservation NGOs Exclusion of migrant communities and women in the governance of the landscape
Productive	Competing discourses (conservation and development) only partially bridged

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