Umbrella conservation group The Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) has been dealt a blow after a court allowed a petition against the establishment of several conservancies on community land in Isiolo County.
- Residents of Merti sub-county in Isiolo challenged the conservancies on the grounds that the decision was made without their consent and participation.
- Additionally, the residents said their efforts to register the community land under their patronage had been frustrated by authorities.
- Founded in 2004 by Lewa Conservancy and USAID, NRT oversees 45 community conservancies in Kenya’s northern and coastal regions, covering an area of over 42, 000 square kilometres, and Uganda.
In addition to banning any activity on the conservancies in Chari and Cherab wards, Merti sub-county, the court also ordered the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) to revoke all licenses it had issued to the owners of the conservancies in Cherab and Bulesa Biliqo.
The residents were worried that the loss of their community land would disenfranchise their livelihoods by restricting access to water and grazing lands, and their cultural connection to the land. They added that the conservancies’ operations, feasibility reports, and approvals were not disclosed.
In its defence, NRT argued that the petitioners did not have veto power over the decisions made by other community members. It added that it was not mandatory to register community land before setting up conservancies and that it had not interfered with the process.
“The Court has found that that the Petitioners have ably demonstrated breach of statutory duties, and violations of a number of their constitutional rights by the Respondents and will issue declarations in that respect,” Justices Angote, Yano, and Nzili said in the ruling.
In addition to an apparent lack of public participation, the petitioners also accused of armed repression for using its rangers as a private army to quell displeasure and protest against the conservancies.
The claims of violent repression, among other human rights violations, have been frequent among communities with conservancies that NRT oversees It has been accused of illegally consolidating community-owned land in Kenyan pastoral areas for over two decades to exploit the craze for carbon credits. The moves to establish conservancies in place such as Isiolo have been linked to increasing inter-community conflicts, as different sides fight for control of community land.
In July 2024, the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHCR) heard of such instances during a public inquiry in Isiolo, including that the land on which the conservancies were operating was unregistered community land. Pundits and opponents of the conservancy-model have termed the NRT’s reach as a “large-scale land grab” that echoes colonial annexation.
