Extinction of some wildlife species is becoming a reality every day in Kenya. For example, we currently have only 15 remaining roan antelopes, down from 300 in 1980. These remaining ones are all found in Ruma National Park in Homa Bay county and even they are not safe. They’re faced with dangers like human settlement, farming, fires during the dry season, and predation by other animals like hyenas and leopards.
Why is the population of the roan antelope declining?
Poacing for met and cultural reasons, drought, diseas, human encroachment into their natural habitat, and fire outbreaks. This scenario is sad because Roan antelopes are a flagship species in Ruma National Park and are used to drive tourism income, which is one of Kenya’s top exchange earners.
Conservation has become a daily necessity from different players and towards the case of the roan antelopes, M-PESA Foundation has partnered with the Kenya Wildlife Service, the Northern Rangelands Trust and Back to Africa to protect them. The support is in the tune of Ksh.17 Million which will be given in cash grants.
“We commend the efforts put in place by KWS, Northern Rangelands Trust and Back to Africa to help save Kenya’s roan antelope population. As a testament to our commitment to environmental conservation, we are happy to support these efforts which are part of the recovery plan to establish and maintain a stable and growing population of roan antelopes,”
Michael Joseph, Chairman, M-PESA Foundation.
Since its inception in 2010, the M-PESA Foundation has implemented various large scale and long-term highly impactful social projects in the areas of health, education and environmental conservation.
Under environmental conservation, the Foundation has previously invested in the restoration of the Mau Eburu ecosystem through fencing the Mau Eburu forest and empowering the communities to curb recurring human-wildlife conflict. The Foundation has also recently partnered with Reteti Elephant sanctuary to help protect the orphaned and abandoned elephant calves.