Kenyan national parks don’t protect wildlife from decline

Journal Watch Online 8 Jul 09;

Animal populations aren’t faring any better inside the borders of Kenya’s national parks than outside, according to a new study in PLoS ONE.

The authors assembled more than 270 wildlife surveys taken over the last three decades and examined Kenyan parks that had continuous data from 1977 to 1997. They found that animals in parks dropped by 41 percent, on par with the national decline of 38 percent. And a comparison of a subset of national parks with nearby unprotected regions showed a similar trend: wildlife numbers in both protected and unprotected areas fell by nearly half.

The parks may be failing to insulate wildlife because they cover only part of some animals’ migratory ranges, the researchers say. Surprisingly, the largest parks showed the sharpest declines, possibly in part because agriculture has expanded into range areas. But private and community sanctuaries are doing a better job of restoring wildlife populations, the authors note, suggesting that parks should partner with outreach programs to improve their chances of success. – Roberta Kwok

Source: Western, D, et al. 2009. The Status of Wildlife in Protected Areas Compared to Non-Protected Areas of Kenya. PLoS ONE DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0006140