STORY: Kenya launches campaign to reduce human-wildlife conflict
SHOOTING TIME: Feb. 20, 2024/File
DATELINE: Feb. 21, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:27
LOCATION: Nairobi
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT

SHOTLIST:
1. various of KWS headquarters
2. SOUNDBITE (English): CHARLES MUSYOKI, Director of wildlife and community service at the Kenya Wildlife Service
3. various of wildlife in Kenya (File)

STORYLINE:

Kenya on Tuesday launched a campaign to reduce human-wildlife conflict in the country.

Charles Musyoki, director of wildlife and community service at the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), told Xinhua in the national capital of Nairobi that the campaign involves educating and informing communities living along wildlife corridors on the use of lighting devices and predator-proof fences to promote peaceful co-existence between humans and wildlife.

SOUNDBITE (English): CHARLES MUSYOKI, Director of wildlife and community service at the Kenya Wildlife Service
"It's a major campaign that we will carry out across the country because we have areas that are hotspots for human-wildlife conflicts, which we have already mapped across the country. Therefore, KWS is very keen at ensuring that we are able to either eliminate human-wildlife conflicts or eliminate in some ways."

"We will also empower communities to understand the causes of human-wildlife conflict and the role they can play in reducing it," Musyoki said, adding that elephants, monkeys, lions, hyenas, and crocodiles are the most common animals involved in human-wildlife conflict.

Musyoki said the KWS has already mapped the human-wildlife hotspots so that a rapid response team can be deployed to reduce the incidence of human and livestock deaths as well as crop destruction by wildlife in the country.

Kenya is experiencing an increase in human-wildlife conflict as the growing human population establishes settlements in wildlife habitats, according to the KWS.

In January, the Kenyan government said it had set aside 950 million Kenyan shillings (about 6.5 million U.S. dollars) to compensate victims of human-wildlife conflict for the 2023/2024 fiscal year, which ends on June 30.

Kenya is facing escalating levels of human-wildlife conflict due to diminishing conservation space as a result of increasing human population pressure and human activities.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Nairobi.
(XHTV)