Since the passage of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act in 2013, a national endowment fund to support wildlife conservation activities in the Country has been a mile too far for the GOK.
This legal notice to the Public Finance Management Act is an attempt to realize the Fund and to finance its establishment – no easy feat in a Covid Pandemic World.
The initial GOK commitment is KSH 200M.
“The initial Capital of the fund shall be 200 million shillings ($2M USD) appropriated by Parliament in the Financial Year 2020/2021 as part of the Economic Stimulus Program for Conservancies Rangers.”
Please take a moment to review this ACT, (LINK HERE) its sources of funding, and its dedicated apportionment of expenditure.
The Fund shall consist of moneys paid into the Fund from various sources, to include:
- a) Moneys appropriated by Parliament for purposes of the Fund;
- b) One per cent (1%) of proceeds realized from gate collections in all protected areas and captive wildlife facilities;
- c) a proportion of such moneys as may be levied for payment of environmental services and biodiversity offsets by beneficiaries in productive and service sectors as a contribution;
- d) moneys secured from debt-for-nature swap transactions;
- e) percentage of levies from use of wildlife resources;
- f) innovative funding arrangements with the private sector;
- g) grants or donations from national, international and multi-lateral institutions for the purposes of this Fund;
- h) philanthropic donations by individuals or private charities;
- i) income generated from the proceeds of the Fund; and
- j) any moneys accruing to or received by the Fund from any other source as may be approved by the Cabinet Secretary.
The proceeds of the Fund shall be apportioned as follows:
(a) An amount not exceeding twenty per cent (20%) to wildlife conservation initiatives for national parks and sanctuaries;
(b) An amount not exceeding twenty per cent (20%) to wildlife conservation initiatives for national reserves;
(c) An amount not exceeding twenty per cent (20%) to wildlife conservancies; and an amount not exceeding forty per cent (40%) to other conservation initiatives and priorities.
LWF participated in numerous advisory groups and meetings in 2015 and 2016 in an attempt to realize the Fund. We remain hopeful that priority wildlife counties and their Wildlife Conservation Management Committees will benefit from the Endowment Fund on a performance basis.
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