The International Dimension of the Politics of Wildlife Conservation in Kenya, 1958–1968

Abstract

The period 1958–1968 was an important turning point for wildlife conservation in Africa. Having been dominated by preservationist ideas since its inception at the beginning of the colonial era in the late nineteenth century, wildlife conservation in Africa became an important focus for the ideas of rational use propagated by a resurgent international conservationist lobby since the late 1940s. This endeavour entailed convincing the hitherto marginalized African communities, which were starting to attain political independence from the late 1950s, that wildlife conservation was not only key to future prosperity but could be integrated into other socio-economic activities. Consequently, a variety of programmes were initiated with a view to making wildlife conservation amenable to African communities. These efforts, which culminated in the signing of the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources by the Organization of African Unity in 1968, led to the establishment of a number of community conservation projects in Kenya whose legacy persists to date. This paper highlights the factors that renewed international concern for wildlife conservation in Africa from the late 1950s and assesses the impact of the new ideas on the conservation programme in Kenya. The paper argues that local factors were significant in the evolution of the ideas that have come to dominate wildlife conservation in Africa.

Notes

1. Republic of Kenya, ‘Draft Wildlife Policy, 2007’, 7.

2. See Cullen and Downey, Saving the Game; Huxley, ‘Notes on Wild Life’; Robins, Africa's Wild Life; Simon, Between the Sunlight and the Thunder.

3. Neumann, ‘Postwar Conservation Boom’, 37.

4. Matheka, ‘Antecedents’.

5. Adams, Against Extinction, 68–69.

6. Bonner, At the Hand of Man, 62–63. Documents in ‘CO 847/76: Colonial Game Policy in Africa, 1960–62’ show that SPFE and the Colonial Office tried to influence Nyerere's position on conservation before the 1961 IUCN conference in Arusha.

7. Robins, Africa's Wildlife; Robins, Ebony Ark.

8. Gibson, Politicians and Poachers, xi.

9. Ayodo, ‘Tourist Attractions’, 156. Also see Neumann, Imposing Wilderness, 4.

10. ‘Wildlife’ generally refers to wild animals, birds, fish and other creatures in their habitats. The focus in this paper is mainly on wild animals. Asians and Europeans in colonial Kenya engaged in licensed hunting but Africans were prevented from doing so by laws that barred them from owning firearms.

11. White farmers (settlers) in colonial Kenya, too, were bothered by marauding animals. However, their knowledge of the game laws, possession of firearms and the presence of honorary game wardens in their midst ameliorated their situation. Conversely, Africans depended mainly on the understaffed and under-funded game department and the provincial administration.

12. Government of Kenya, Sessional Paper No. 1 of 1959/60, 2.

13. C. P. Chenevix-Trench, ‘Memorandum on Game Policy, Samburu [District]’, n.d. [c. 1959], KNA/PC/NKU 2/14/4, 2. Most of Samburu District was then part of the expansive Marsabit National Reserve, which was administered by the Royal National Parks of Kenya (RNPK).

14. C. P. Chenevix-Trench, DC Maralal to PC (Provincial Commissioner) Rift Valley, 30 Nov. 1959, KNA/PC/NKU 2/14/4. ADCs were technically representative bodies though they mainly consisted of government appointed chiefs and their meetings were presided over by DCs. At independence the ADCs, which were renamed county councils, became more representative of the popular will.

15. Government of Kenya, Sessional Paper No. 7 of 1957/58: 1, 24–28.

16. Created in the late 1940s to succeed the hitherto sprawling southern and northern game reserves, the national reserves were Amboseli (1,259 sq. miles), Chyulu (150 sq. miles), Mara (700 sq. miles) and Ngong (200 sq. miles) in Maasailand, as well as Marsabit (10,000 sq. miles) in northern Kenya. In these areas, wildlife conservation mainly competed with pastoralism.

17. The controlled hunting areas programme basically involved culling of wild animals outside the game sanctuaries. The resultant benefits, like money from licensed hunting and sale of meat or hides, were shared between the government and the ADC in whose area the culling was done. The trustees of the national parks also shared the benefits of tourism in the national reserves with the respective ADCs. But the government's insistence on keeping valuable trophies (like ivory and rhino horn) meant that the benefits were too small to change Africans’ views on wildlife conservation.

18. Kenya was in financial problems by the late 1950s owing to expenses associated with the Mau Mau Rebellion, which cost a total of £57 million (including a £30 million loan from Britain). The financial situation was exacerbated in the early 1960s by capital flight, a fall in investment and decline in imports following an announcement in January 1960 that the country would soon be independent. See documents in the ‘Kenya Development Plan, 1960–63’ file in CO 822/2560, as well as Ogot, ‘The Decisive Years, 1956–63’, 63.

19. I. R. Grimwood, Chief Game Warden to DC Kitui, 11 July 1961, KNA/KTI 3/10/1. The game department was regarded as the Cinderella of the colonial government despite high earnings from licensed hunting and sale of trophies, as well as the department's significance to tourism. In 1961, revenue from game licences alone was £44,806. See Government of Kenya, Game Department Annual Report , 1961, 6.

20. The White Highlands, a preserve for white settlers from the early colonial period, were opened up to other races in 1959.

21. DC Kajiado to PC Southern Province, 7 May 1959, KNA/PC/NKU 2/14/2.

22. IDC Kajiado to PC Southern Province, 7 May 1959, KNA/PC/NKU 2/14/2. For more information on developments in Maasai pastoralism and wildlife conservation, see Parkipuny and Berger, ‘Maasai Rangelands’; Evangelou, Livestock Development in Kenya's Maasailand.

23. DC Lamu to PC Coast Province, 4 March 1959, KNA/CA 8/3. (Emphasis in the original.) Bajun cultivators in Lamu had a saying: ‘Man plants but elephant harvests’. DC Lamu to Game Warden, Nairobi, 1 April 1958, KNA/DC/Lamu 2/17/7.

24. Government of Kenya, Game Department Annual Report , 1958/59, 11.

25. Muluku Mutyamata to DC Kitui, 8 Oct. 1961; DC Kitui to Muluku Mutyamata, 14 Oct. 1961, KNA/DC/KTI 3/10/1.

26. See KNA/DC/KTI 3/10/1, folios 57 and 61. Also see Graham, The Gardeners of Eden, 86.

27. Quoted in the East African Standard, 9 Dec. 1959.

28. ‘Kenya Development Plan, 1960–63’, CO 822/2560. The Legislative Council debate was on 21 June 1960. By then many ADCs were heavily indebted to the government for loans related to the African Land Development (ALDEV) programme, which was carrying out projects like controlled grazing. This translated into high taxes among the communities concerned, while individual stockowners had to pay grazing fees. See Government of Kenya, African Land Development; Anderson, Eroding the Commons, Ch. 7; Matheka, ‘Colonial Capitalism’, Ch. 6.

29. C. P. Chenevix-Trench, DC Maralal to Chief Game Warden, 17 Aug. 1960, KNA/PC/NKU 2/14/4.

30. A. J. Carn, Game Warden Lamu and Tana River District to Chief Game Warden, 20 Oct. 1963, KNA/CE 7/2. This range was not only too extensive for one game warden and four game scouts but the situation was complicated by Pokomo cultivation extending for about 300 miles along the Tana River. By the time the crops began to mature, the surrounding areas would be without water and wild animals would begin to move into the river valley from the sparsely settled hinterland.

31. Permanent Secretary for Forest Development, Game and Fisheries to Permanent Secretary Ministry of African Affairs, 17 Nov. 1959, KNA/NYK 3/7/5.

32. Directive by His Excellency the Governor (P. Renison), ‘Protection of Wildlife’, 31 Jan. 1961, KNA/DC/TAM 2/8/1. In 1957, the then Governor, Evelyn Baring, made a similar directive at the height of an extensive anti-poaching campaign in south-east Kenya. The campaign, which involved the game department, the Royal National Parks of Kenya (RNPK) and the police, used aircraft and techniques applied during the Mau Mau counter-insurgency and was believed to have been successful. See Parker and Bleazard, An Impossible Dream, chs 11 and 12.

33. See note 18 supra. The Giriama community regarded acokanthera frisiorum, the tree from which arrow poison was extracted, as miti ya kodi (tax-money trees) since it facilitated the poaching that enabled them to earn money for paying taxes. See Graham, The Gardeners of Eden, 16.

34. See note 32 supra.

35. Robins, Africa's Wild Life, 34. The crowd was agitating for Kenyatta's release from detention, the granting of independence, and free access to wildlife resources.

36. J. A. Pereira, ‘Poaching in the Lambwe Valley [Report]’, 19 Nov. 1963, KNA/DC/HB 2/12/2.

37. Quoted in Beard, The End of the Game, 197. See also Worthington, The Ecological Century, 136 and 141. President Roosevelt, who left office in 1908, was a hunter-cum-conservationist and toured East Africa on a hunting safari in 1909–10.

38. McCormick, The Global Environmental Movement, 36 and 37.

39. McCormick, The Global Environmental Movement, 43.

40. There were separate annual, biannual, etc. conferences for East Africa and Central Africa as well as joint ones. It is not clear whether there was a regional conference for West Africa, but West African colonies were represented in the 1952 Fauna of British East and Central Africa Conference. See East Africa High Commission, ‘Fauna of British East and Central Africa’, Proceedings of a Conference held at Tengeru on 15–17 April 1952.

41. In the 1947 conference, Caldwell represented the Society for the Preservation of the Fauna and Flora of the Empire, while Worthington was the scientific secretary to the East African Governors’ Conference. See East Africa High Commission, ‘Fauna of British East and Central Africa’, 1947, 1.

42. East Africa High Commission, ‘Fauna of British East and Central Africa’, 1952, 6. This conference was preceded by similar ones in 1947 and 1950 in Nairobi and Victoria Falls, respectively. It was followed by others in 1956, 1959 and 1961 in Entebbe (Uganda), Luangwa Valley (Northern Rhodesia), and Lake Manyara (Tanganyika), respectively.

43. East Africa High Commission, ‘Fauna of British East and Central Africa’, 1952, 6. This conference was preceded by similar ones in 1947 and 1950 in Nairobi and Victoria Falls, respectively. It was followed by others in 1956, 1959 and 1961 in Entebbe (Uganda), Luangwa Valley (Northern Rhodesia), and Lake Manyara (Tanganyika), respectively., 7.

44. East Africa High Commission, ‘Fauna of British East and Central Africa’, 1952, 6. This conference was preceded by similar ones in 1947 and 1950 in Nairobi and Victoria Falls, respectively. It was followed by others in 1956, 1959 and 1961 in Entebbe (Uganda), Luangwa Valley (Northern Rhodesia), and Lake Manyara (Tanganyika), respectively., 14 and 20.

45. East Africa High Commission, ‘Fauna of British East and Central Africa’, Proceedings of a Conference held at Entebbe, 23–25 July 1956, 5. Emphasis in the original.

46. East Africa High Commission, ‘Fauna of British East and Central Africa’, Proceedings of a Conference held at Entebbe, 23–25 July 1956, 5. Emphasis in the original., passim.

47. The Kenya and Tanganyika wildlife societies were formed in 1955. Their membership consisted of conservationists in government as well as those in the private sector (such as the East African Professional Hunters Association), a mirror image of the IUPN whose membership consisted of governments and non-governmental organizations. The societies not only raised funds for wildlife conservation but also pressured respective governments to conserve wildlife.

48. Government of Northern Rhodesia, ‘Proceedings of the Sixth British East and Central Africa Fauna Conference’, held in the Luangwa Valley, 21–24 Aug. 1959, 9.

49. Government of Northern Rhodesia, ‘Proceedings of the Sixth British East and Central Africa Fauna Conference’, held in the Luangwa Valley, 21–24 Aug. 1959, 10.

50. Both scholars had been involved in African affairs since the 1930s.

51. Treichel, ‘Use and Abuse of Africa's Wild Game’, 14 and 15. The article is continued in the next issue of the journal under the title, ‘An Immense Effort Lies Ahead if we are to Save Africa's Animal Heritage’.

52. Worthington, The Wild Resources of East and Central Africa; Huxley, The Conservation of Wildlife and Natural Habitats.

53. Hillaby, ‘African Special Project’, 211.

54. Hillaby, ‘African Special Project’, 211 and 212.

55. McCormick, Global Environmental Movement, 44.

56. See Holdgate, The Green Web, 81–83; Bonner, At the Hand of Man, 67; Adams, Against Extinction, 54–57.

57. Holdgate, The Green Web, 73; McCormick, Global Environmental Movement, 45.

58. Holdgate, The Green Web, 72 and 88.

59. Government of Kenya, Game Department Annual Report 1963, 3.

60. See notes on a discussion held at Government House on Friday 28 October 1960 between the Governor and Trustees of the Royal National Parks of Kenya in KNA/KW 1/20.

61. G. C. M. Dowson to Chief Secretary, 26 July 1960, KNA/KW 23/156.

62. W. E. Crosskill (Minister for Tourism, Game, Forests and Fisheries) to W. F. Coutts (Chief Secretary), 30 June 1960, KNA/KW 23/156. The Economic and Social Council of the UN, recognizing the importance of nature and natural resources initiated the compilation of wildlife conservation areas from 1959. See Adams, Against Extinction, 97; ICNP, United Nations List of National Parks and Equivalent Reserves, 11, 313–320.

63. Kajiado District Annual Report, 1961, 20, KNA/DC/KAJ 4/1/13 and Narok District Annual Report, 1960, 6, 12–13 in KNA/DC/NRK 1/1/6. Also see note 16 supra.

64. See correspondence between the Samburu DC and the Chief Game Warden, KNA/KW 1/24.

65. See Holman, The Elephant People, 215–17; Parker and Amin, Ivory Crisis, 52–56.

66. See various correspondence, KNA/KW 1/88.

67. Government of Kenya, Game Department Annual Report, 1963, 9. Also see Parker and Amin, Ivory Crisis.

68. Government of Kenya, Game Department Annual Reports, 1964 and 1965 , 10.

69. See the Game Department annual reports for the period 1960–65.

70. Neil S. Sandeman to Permanent Secretary (Ministry of Natural Resources), 11 November 1963, KNA/KW 1/73.

71. See Boardman, International Organizations and the Conservation of Nature, 152. Kenya was among the four nations that ratified the African Convention for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1969.

72. Barrow, Gichohi, and Infield. ‘The Evolution of Community Conservation Policy and Practice in East Africa’, 59.

73. Neumann, ‘Postwar Conservation Boom’, 41.

74. See Western, In the Dust of Kilimanjaro, 49–55.

75. McCormick, Global Environmental Movement, 42.

76. Robins, The Ebony Ark, 154–60.