CODEL BROWNBACK EXAMINES CONSERVATION AND FEEDING

UNCLAS NAIROBI 000093 SIPDIS CODEL SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/E, AF/EPS, AF/PD, AND OES/ENV USAID FOR AFR/EA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV KHIV ECON EAGR EAID ETRD PGOV PREL PREL, KCOR, TBIO, KE SUBJECT: CODEL BROWNBACK EXAMINES CONSERVATION AND FEEDING PROGRAMS IN KENYA REF: (A) NAIROBI 4506 (B) NAIROBI 4781 ¶1. Summary: Senators Brownback and Durbin visited Kenya December 4 through 6 to examine conservation efforts in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Senator Durbin then returned to Nairobi and visited several World Food Program (WFP) feeding programs in the sprawling Kibera slums. Senator Durbin also toured the Nyumbani shelter for orphaned HIV- positive children, and attended a dinner hosted by world marathon record-holder Paul Tergat. End Summary. -------------- -------------- CONSERVATION EFFORTS IN THE MAASAI MARA GAME RESERVE -------------- -------------- ¶2. The Maasai Mara National Reserve is host to a wide array of wildlife. With approximately 320 square kilometers of open savannah, woodlands and tree-lined rivers, its eco-system supports huge numbers of bird and mammal species. Lions are found in abundance throughout the park, as are elephant, giraffe, a variety of gazelle species, as well as zebra, cheetah, leopard, and rhino. The conservation areas of the Maasai Mara have been set aside from land traditionally controlled by local Maasai tribes. ¶3. Senators Brownback and Durbin examined two areas of the Maasai Mara ecosystem. One area is managed as a nature conservancy by a private company, which was hired by a local governing body, the Transmara County Council, to oversee the reserve. The other, largely unmanaged side of the Mara is called the Koiyaki-Lemek. This land is currently under the management of a collective of Maasai group ranches. The differences between the managed and unmanaged sides of the Maasai Mara reserve are easily recognizable. Outside of the conservancy boundries, conservation efforts are clearly not a priority, and human development runs largely unchecked, typified by unimproved access roads, fenced parcels of land, scattered bomas (traditional Maasai communities),and an emphasis on cattle over wild animals. Much of the ground cover is clipped short from livestock grazing and the variety and number of wild animals on the unmanaged side of the Reserve contrasts greatly with the abundance of animals roaming the side run by the Transmara Conservancy. ¶4. The Maasai Mara Reserve is an integral part of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in which over 1.5 million wildebeest migrate annually between Kenya and Tanzania. In their tour of the Reserve, the Senators developed a better understanding of how critical it is that the whole Maasai Mara develops as a seamless system of conservation management. Various local conservationists explained that because this reserve is currently mostly unfenced, wildlife dispersal areas and migration routes are under threat from encroaching human activity. Human-wildlife conflict is also an issue of growing concern. ¶5. In the Maasai Mara, Codel Brownback visited a local school to see how conservation organizations like local NGO Friends of Conservation helps educate Maasai children about the benefits of wildlife and a healthy ecosystem. Throughout their visit, Senators Brownback and Durbin saw an abundance of wildlife that local conservationists are seeking to protect, including lion, cheetah, rhino, buffalo, elephant and wildebeest. ¶6. Brian Heath, the Director of the Transmara Conservancy, guided Codel Brownback throughout their day. Heath explained how President Kibaki's attempt to downgrade the status of Amboseli National Park to a nature reserve controlled by the local (also Maasai) county council (ref A) would likely have an adverse effect on the management of the Maasai Mara conservation area. He warned that the Amboseli situation could encourage the Transmara County Council to assert greater control over the conservation areas of the Mara, putting at risk the unique ecosystems. If the Reserve reverts fully to Maasai council management, it could, in future, have the same issues as the unmanaged Koiyaki-Lemek side of the Mara in which many stakeholders squabble over land rights and access to tourist dollars without focusing on conservation efforts. Heath warned that corruption is rampant in the Reserve, particularly regarding fee collection. He estimates that only 10% of tourism revenues from fees and licensing associated with the 2,000 tourist beds in the Maasai Mara reach the Transmara Conservancy, nor are there many examples of successful community development projects from these funds. -------------- WORLD FOOD PROGRAM SITE VISITS -------------- ¶7. On his return to Nairobi on December 6, Senator Durbin met with members of the UN World Food Program (WFP) to better understand the Kenya School Feeding Program, which provides a free lunch to hungry and poor children in pre- primary and primary schools in vulnerable communities throughout the country. Leading the tour was WFP Program Director Ben Watkins, who gratefully acknowledged that this effort is majority-funded by USG contributions under the Dole-McGovern Act, in the amount of $10.3 million for 2005, making Kenya the largest recipient of this kind of aid (ref B). Watkins did point-out that further support is needed, as food deficits continue to be a problem in Kenya. The underlying concept for these programs is that school feeding programs attract children to classrooms and promotes universal primary education. Other benefits include encouraging greater gender equality among school children, and increasing the efficacy of anti-retroviral treatment in HIV-positive children by ensuring baseline nutrition. The WFP has been working on this program with the GoK Ministry of Education Science and Technology since ¶1980. ¶8. This WFP program currently provides hot lunches each school day for 1.1 million Kenyan children in 3,800 schools in 29 Districts, including 70,000 children in six Nairobi slums. An additional 420,000 Kenyan children receive school lunches under a separate WFP emergency operation in drought-stricken areas. The results are significant: in areas where school feeding programs operate there have been annual increases of 7% in net enrollment since 1999. While school enrollment rates in Kenya average over 85% for boys and girls nationally, disadvantaged Kenyan communities have enrollment rates from 12% to 60%. The school lunch program targets these lagging communities in an attempt to raise enrollment rates. ¶9. Nairobi's Kibera slum, often referred to as Africa's biggest, houses some 60% of the city's 2.75 million person population on 5% of the city's residential area. The population density is approximately 500 persons per acre. Two-thirds of the Kibera population lives on less than a dollar a day, and almost all live without basic services such as access to piped water and sewage systems. In lieu of toilets, residents often resort to plastic bags, which are then left on the street, undermining any sense of human dignity and creating unsanitary conditions. [Note: scenes of the Kibera slum featured prominently in the 2005 film "The Constant Gardener." End Note.] ¶10. Senator Durbin visited two feeding programs in Kibera. He first toured Kicoshep Primary School, which assists 425 students from vulnerable families in the community, including orphaned children as well as those with HIV- positive parents, and spoke with children and parents who are benefiting from the program. The Senator also visited the home of several parents, including one single mother who raised 11 children by herself in her 10-foot square one-room home over the past 20 years. She credited the WFP program for their survival and opportunity for basic education. Afterwards, the Senator toured the Lea Toto community-based care program, associated with the Nyumbani Orphanage program. Lea Toto services 2,000 HIV-positive children, and receives funding support from USAID and WFP. ¶11. Throughout the day, WFP's Watkins highlighted the importance of adequate nutrition, via feeding programs, and anti-retroviral treatments for HIV-positive children. In a visit to Nyumbani, an orphanage that is home to nearly 100 HIV-positive orphans, Senator Durbin met with founder Father Angelo D'Agostino, who reemphasized the importance of combining nutrition and anti-retroviral treatment. Father D'Agostino also described Nyumbani's research on children who exhibit HIV-false positives. According to D'Agostino, because infants carry many of their mothers' antibodies through their first year of life, a number of newborns with infected mothers may give a 'false positive' and never actually develop the disease themselves. In fact, according to Nyumbani's research, a full 75% of babies who test positive at birth will eventually be found not to have the virus. ¶12. On the evening of December 6, Senator Durbin attended a dinner hosted by Paul Tergat, the current world record- holder in the marathon and probably the most famous beneficiary of WFP school feeding projects in Kenya. Tergat described a difficult early childhood in a poor family among 11 siblings. He credits the WFP program for attracting him to school, providing him with nutrition, and giving him a chance to succeed. Today Tergat acts as a worldwide ambassador for the WFP. ¶13. Senators Brownback and Durbin have both cleared on this cable. Bellamy