Livestock Management
Wildlife Management
Land & Natural Resource Management
Peace & Security
Tourism
Enterprise
Infrastructure Development
Community Engagement
Purpose: To maximize income from livestock, and improve livestock health, while minimizing impact on the environment and ensuring coexistence with wildlife.
Livestock management is having an increasingly important role for Conservancies in pastoralist areas. This includes grazing management to improve condition of rangelands and avoid overgrazing, as well as developing markets for livestock. Creating better access to markets for livestock is particularly important in remote areas, and investing in markets also helps in branding livestock products as conservation friendly. For many Conservancies livestock is the primary form of income generation (for households and the Conservancy itself), ahead of tourism, and coexistence of livestock and wildlife is a model promoted by almost all Conservancies. Livestock management may include many options e.g.
Livestock owned and managed by the Conservancy;
Grazing of Community livestock on Private Conservancies (revenue generated from grazing fees);
Purchase of Community livestock through use of revolving fund: profits from sales generate revenue for the Conservancy;
Slaughter and sale of livestock products (Conservancy owned slaughter house)
Some Private Conservancies have invested in slaughter houses and cover all aspects of livestock marketing. Improved livestock production through interventions in health and breeding are more commonly used in Private Conservancies. This could be promoted in Group and Community Conservancies. However, before starting such a program, it is essential to understand the pros and cons of highly adapted indigenous livestock breeds versus high-yielding non-indigenous breeds, and the impacts on human livelihoods.
This may include:
Grazing Management – development of grazing plans for livestock and zonation of the Conservancy into areas where livestock may be restricted at certain times of year. The objectives of a grazing program may be to increase grass cover and productivity for livestock as well as to minimize disturbance of wildlife and tourism.
Habitat Restoration – in rangelands this may include rehabilitation of degraded areas such as re-seeding, gully healing, use of bomas on areas of bare land, or clearing of invasive species.
Forest Protection and Management – this may include setting up forest Management Plans to restrict use of forest products, zonation of the forest for different uses, re-planting of indigenous trees in degraded areas (including mangroves), establishing rules governing logging and collection of firewood etc.
Fisheries Management – marine Conservancies may establish by-laws for fisheries management including restricting the type of fishing gear used, setting aside locally managed marine areas and no-take zones, active rehabilitation of coral reefs etc.
Fencing – fencing may be used as a tool to manage human-wildlife conflict, or to create exclusion zones which protect key resources (e.g. springs) from over-use and damage by people and wildlife, or establish Sanctuaries for endangered species.
Settlement Planning and other land uses – this is a critical component of good Conservancy management and should be undertaken early on to ensure key resources (e.g. springs, rivers, swamps) and habitats (forests, grazing areas etc.) are managed and conserved. Zonation of Conservancies can include settlement areas, grazing and tourism and farming areas with rules governing what is allowed in these different areas.
