Tracing Community Conservation Evolution, Power Relations And Sustainability In Northern Kenya. (2012)

Abstract The narrative of Fortress Conservation was based on strategies dominated by attempts to reserve places for nature, to separate humans from nature, and to prevent consumptive use or other forms of human impact. The counter-narrative of Community Conservation promises to reconcile conservation and development objectives, and ensure the interests of the local people are taken into account. This narrative is no panacea however, and in the evolution of community conservation in Kenya, several initiatives have fallen victim to poor governance or the lack thereof, or worse, the retrogression into the colonial model of conservation through exclusion. A new model of community conservation in Kenya is emerging, distinguished by the governance and leadership of umbrella bodies and land owner associations, state involvement and community buy-in in a new frontier of conservation on communal lands.