Changing wildlife populations in Nairobi national park and adjoining Athi-Kaputiei plains: Collapse of the migratory Wildebeest

There is mounting concern about declines in wildlife populations in many protected areas in Africa. Migratory ungulates are especially vulnerable to impacts of changing land use outside protected areas on their abundance. Range compression may compromise the capacity of migrants to cope with climatic variation, and accentuate both competitive interactions and predation. We analyzed the population dynamics of 11 ungulate species within Kenya’s Nairobi National Park, and compared them to those in the adjoining Athi-Kaputiei Plains, where human settlements and other developments had expanded. The migratory wildebeest decreased from almost 30,000 animals in 1978 to around 5,000 currently but the migratory zebra changed little regionally. Hartebeest, impala, eland, Thomson’s gazelle, Grant’s gazelle, waterbuck, warthog and giraffe numbers declined regionally, whereas buffalo numbers expanded. Bimonthly counts indicated temporary movements of several species beyond the unfenced park boundaries, especially during very wet years and that few wildebeest entered the park during the dry season following exceptionally wet conditions in 1998. Wildebeest were especially vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts in their wet season dispersal range on the plains. Deterioration in grassland conditions in the park following high rainfall plus lack of burning may have discouraged these animals from using the park as a dry season refuge. Our findings emphasise the interdependency between the park and the plains for seasonal wildlife movements, especially in exceptionally dry or wet years. To effectively conserve these ungulates, we recommend implementation of the new land-use plan for the Athi-Kaputiei Plains by the county government; expansion of the land leasing program for biodiversity payments; collecting poacher’s snares; negotiation and enforcement of easements, allowing both wildlife and livestock to move through the Athi-Kaputiei Plains, providing incentives for conservation to landowners; and improving grassland conditions within the park through controlled burning so that more wildlife can gain protection there

Innovative application of ICT tools for paperless data capture and feedback in smallholder dairy production systems: The Platform for African Dairy Genetic Gains (ADGG)

Functioning national livestock performance recording and monitoring systems are scarce in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet improvements and changes in any livestock sector heavily depend on the availability of information and accurate data on animal characteristics and their performance within different production environments. Constraints to the adoption of livestock recording in Africa include inadequate policies and poor infrastructure; weak organizations and institutions; small and dispersed herds; limited capacity and understanding of livestock recording processes; and lack of appropriate incentives for farmers to share records. In recent times, ICT tools, notably mobile telephony systems have greatly advanced, and if adequately utilized can transform data capture, sharing and use for small- holder livestock keepers. This paper presents the development and piloting of a livestock recording, monitoring and feedback system in Tanzania and Ethiopia as part of the platform for Africa Dairy Genetic Gains (ADGG), which is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. It specifically focuses on the tools and the data collation platform, and on the results to date. Within the first two years of the project, more than 70,161 animals, from 45,000 small holder farmers in Tanzania and Ethiopia have been registered and are being monitored on the ADGG platform. In a unique public-private partnership with the Green-Dreams Tech, the ADGG platform has integrated an SMS system that is providing feedback information to the farmers from the data in the two countries. The ADGG platform is envisioned to be adopted by other countries in Africa