Mt. Kulal Biosphere Reserve: Reconciling conservation with local human population needs
The Mt. Kulal Biosphere Reserve covers ove 7,000 sq km of the arid and semi-arid zone of northern kenya. It is the home of the greater part of the Rendille tribe, and is also occupied by the Gabbra, Samburu and Turkana tribes. All four tribes are nomadic pastoralists who keep camels, cattle, sheep and goats. Although having been previously in balance with their environment, they are now threatened with constant droughts necessitating famine relief. This is partly because of the increased deterioration of their environment through the loss of vegetation cover and soil cover resulting from high human and livestock population pressure. Mt. Kulal Biosphere Reserve has been the working area of the Unesco Integrated Project on Arid Lands (IPAL) which was set up seven years ago as a pilot operation to initiate investigations into the processes of environmental degradation in this area and to determine the causes of these processes. It was also intended for the research to predict the ecological and socio-economic consequences for the pastoralists of continued degradation and, in the light of the findings, contribute to the design of management guidelines directed toward achieving a sustained balance between production and consumption, taking into account the requirements of the growing and increasingly settled population. The preliminary resource management guidelines have now been completed, including an appraisal and evaluation of cultural, political/ecological and socio-economic factors. An attempt has been made to balance resources against local human needs in both the short and the long term. These plans, which include recommendations on the use of the area's water, grazing, woodlands, water catchments, wildlife, fisheries resources, livestock, and appropriate infraestructures, have been developed with full participation of the people in the hope that they will be acceptable to them. These resource management guidelines will form the pre-extension phase of the project where the implementation of the recommendation will be tested in the field by scientists in cooperation with the people. If this works, it will be expanded to include other areas, thereby completing the evolution of MAB's answer to the problems of the arid zones.
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | biblioteca |
| Published: |
(URSS)
1984
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| Subjects: | MANEJO DE RECURSOS NATURALES, RESERVA DE LA BIOSFERA MT. KULAL, KENIA, |
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