Key biodiversity areas are fast shrinking, assessment shows

A new assessment has revealed the world’s most important places for species and their habitats are getting smaller as the human population and development increase.

The sites, which are also known as Key Biodiversity Areas, are facing myriad challenges.

Vital ecosystem services provided by nature like food, water, medicine and other raw materials for industries, continue to shrink in size, jeopardising human well-being and Kenya’s overall economic growth. Graf Kenya has 68 KBAs that include Legacy Key Biodiversity Areas and new sites mainly identified based on birds.

The “Kenya’s Key Biodiversity Areas - Status and Trends, 2022” report shows these areas are faced with mounting threats.

The sites are identified based on elements of biodiversity across genetic, species and ecosystem levels.

In Kenya, assessments follow the KBA Basic Monitoring Protocol, utilising standardised criteria to measure the state (quality of the habitat and population status of species), pressure (threats facing the site) and response (conservation efforts addressing the threats) of each of the KBAs. 

The 2022 assessment of 56 out of 68 KBAs showed that, overall, since 2004, the state of the KBAs has remained stable, while pressure continued to mount, and response and intervention declined.

However, between 2021 and 2022, there was a positive shift, with improved state and response scores, coupled with a reduction in pressure recorded in the KBAs. 

“These findings underscore the ongoing challenges faced by Kenya's natural habitats like forests, rivers, wetlands and savannah and highlight the need for sustained efforts to mitigate threats and enhance conservation responses,” according to the report.

The report represents collaboration among Nature Kenya, Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Wildlife Service, National Museums of Kenya, Wildlife Research and Training Institute, National Environment Management Authority, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and BirdLife International.

During the assessment, the state scores range between 0: Very unfavourable to 3: Favourable; measuring the condition of the KBA based on trigger species and habitat condition (Quality and Quantity).

Overall, since 2004, the state of KBAs in Kenya has remained stable with scores falling between ‘unfavourable and near favourable’ based on the condition of the habitats and the species.

Comparing state scores between 2021 and 2022, an improvement of the score from 0.64 to 0.98 was registered, the report indicates.

The report says in 2022, only four KBAs had a ‘favourable’ state score.

These are Koguta Swamp, Lake Bogoria National Reserve, Lake Elmenteita and Ol Donyo Sabache. Four KBAs had a near favourable state score.

Thirty-two were ‘unfavourable’ while 15 KBAs scored a ‘very unfavourable’ state score compared to 20 in 2021.

The sites scoring very unfavourable include Busia grasslands, Chyulu hills forests, Kianyaga valleys, Kikuyu Escarpment forests, Kinangop grasslands, Lake Baringo, Lake Magadi, Mau Narok-Molo grasslands, Mida Creek, Whale Island and the Malindi-Watamu coast, Mrima Hill Forest, Mukurweini valleys, North Nandi forest, Sio Port swamp, Tana River Delta, and Tsavo East National Park.

The changes in the state of the KBAs was attributed, but not limited, to extreme weather events such as prolonged drought that was experienced in Kenya.

Others are infrastructural development projects such as roads and power lines crossing sensitive ecosystems and buildings encroaching on natural habitats.

Natural events affecting water levels in the Rift Valley lake system and increased human disturbance – resulting in pollution and habitat degradation have also been attributed to the failing KBAs.

Proliferation of invasive plant species across the landscapes like Prosopis juliflora in Tana River Delta, Samburu, Lake Baringo, Parthenium hysterophorus in Lake Bogoria, Lantana camara in Nairobi National Park, among others has also affected KBAs.

The report recommends measures following the assessment of the Key Biodiversity Areas.

It says there is need to promote forest and landscape restoration in line with the United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration 2021-30 and promote recognition of biodiversity conservation, water catchment and carbon capture as land uses.

The report says biodiversity must be mainstreamed into other sectors of the Kenyan economy.

Skills of county officials on environmental matters including on policy formulation must also be enhanced.

Moreover, the report says there is an urgent need to undertake economic valuation for natural capital accounting in Kenya for government decision making on resource allocation.

In May last year, scientists released a disturbing study showing that a 70 per cent decline in wildlife populations.

The loss occurred between 1977 and 2016.

Moreover, the National Wildlife Strategy 2030 by the Wildlife Research and Training Institute has documented evidence showing a further 40 per cent decline in freshwater wetland ecosystems.

“The fragmentation is a result of the increase in human population over the years, which has resulted in demand for more land for settlement and crop farming. In addition, infrastructural development such as roads, railway lines and oil pipelines has also contributed to the fragmentation,” the strategy says.

There was a 7.4 per cent loss of forest cover between 1990 and 2014; a nine per cent decline in insect pollinators; a 74 per cent loss of coral reefs by 1999; and a 90 per cent decrease in Mt Kenya snow cap cover due to climate change.

These worrying trends have disturbing implications for wildlife-habitat-human interactions under the fragmented landscapes of Kenya’s protected areas system.