Thousands Face Eviction to Conserve Kenya's Tana River Mangabey

By Naftali Mungai

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 20, 2000 (ENS) - Conservation of an endangered monkey found only along the Tana River in Kenya may be the cause for the eviction of thousands of residents who have been encroaching on the animals' habitat.

Residents of the vast Tana River District in Kenya's Coast Province are divided over the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) plan to move them to conserve the fast disappearing Tana River mangabey. The monkey is found only in the forest of the Tana delta where the river empties into the Indian Ocean.

Red-capped manabey with day old baby is a close cousin of the Tana River mangabey. (Photo by Zena Tooze courtesy University of Northern Iowa)

Despite their promise to compensate land owners, the agency's plan has divided the residents into two groups. One group is ready to move from their farms along the river. The other group is vowing to stay put, saying compensation has little or nothing to do with leaving their ancestral land and changing their lifestyle.

Molu Shambaro, member of Parliament for the district, who is opposed to the eviction of the of the peasants, says that hostility between these communities who are for and those against the eviction is on the rise. He is urging the wildlife service to involve the leaders from the area in their campaign to conserve the Tana River mangabey.

Shambaro maintains that if the wildlife body goes ahead with the relocation of the residents without the involvement of the local leaders, then the long term repercussions will boomerang on the Kenya Wildlife Service and their Global Environment Facility counterparts who are already on the ground negotiating with the divided villagers.

The MP claims that the residents of Ngao and Ndera locations on the Tana flood plain will bear the full brunt of the intended eviction, as they are accustomed to living along the river. The Kenya Wildlife Service is moving the residents out of the Tana delta to the semi-arid plains of Ozi and Kipini where there are no rivers.

Shambaro believes that wildlife must benefit the landowners. And this benefit, he argues, should come from non-consumptive use such as tourism, or from consumptive uses such as cropping or hunting. "The need to compensate land owners is critical to conservation, particularly in areas outside national parks and reserves," the legislator explains.

The residents of the Tana River district plant maize and raise cattle in what are semi-arid marginal areas. These activities bring them into direct conflict with the herbivores that ruin their maize farms and the carnivores that prey on their limited numbers of highly valued livestock.

As a result, in areas where wildlife has no economic value, it is seen as nothing more than dangerous vermin. This attitude has pitted the residents against the migrant wildlife and the wildlife authorities that are trying to protect them.

The Tana River and surrounding forest has been discovered by adventure tourists.

He says that although the Kenya Wildlife Service is willing to put up social amenities like schools and dispensaries for the people in their new locations in their bid to win their approval of the relocation, the wildlife body is far from succeeding in its mission.

The politician alleges a web of deceit behind the conservation plans by both officials from the Kenya Wildlife Service and their GEF counterparts. He accuses both parties of lining their pockets under the pretext of conserving the rare monkey and at the expense of the local population.

He suggests that Kenya Wildlife Service staffers meet the people and reach a consensus with them over their plans to evict them at the expense of conservation instead of skirting around the subject.

Shambaro says the standard of organisation at the wildlife service has drastically fallen compared to the era of former director Dr. Richard Leakey, who is now head of Kenya's civil service.

The legislator has called on the current Kenya Wildlife Service director, Nehemia Rotich, to move swiftly to avert the simmering land conflict in the Tana delta region.

The Tana River Primate Reserve was opened in 1976 to protect the Lower Tana River forest and two endangered species of monkey: the Mangabey and the Tana River Red Colobus. As well as the lush river forest, there is dry woodland and open savannah bisected by the river.