Another First for Amboseli: Legalization of the Ecosystem Plan

The Amboseli Ecosystem Management Plan 2008-2018 ran up against developers bent on yet more lodges and residential estates around the over-crowded eastern border of the national park. Appalled at the prospect of urban sprawl at the gateway to the park, hoteliers and conservation bodies asked the Amboseli Ecosystem Trust to press for gazettement of the plan. AET called on the National Environmental Management Agency (NEMA), which called together the parties concerned in 2013. All parties unanimously agreed on a year-long moratorium on any further development, pending the completion of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). AET hired consultants to conduct the assessment with $100,000 donated by the conservation organizations, including ACP and ACC. The assessment was completed late in 2014. NEMA has since authorized the legal gazettement of the Amboseli Ecosystem Management plan, overseen by AET. The legal provisions for the Amboseli ecosystem plan is the first of its kind. The plan zones and limits developments to ensure that the seasonal movements of wildlife and livestock remain unimpaired.