PERCEPTIONS REGARDING THE STATUS OF LIVELIHOODS; THE CASE OF THE COMMUNITY IN LOWER TANA DELTA CONSERVANCY, TANA RIVER COUNTY
Abstract
Protected areas (Conservancies) are amongst the most important conservation initiatives
that help to halt biodiversity loss. There have been conflicts among the different
communities that cohabit in the three locations of the study area (Ozi, Chara and
Konemansa) in the Lower Tana Delta Conservancy (LTDC). It is not clear whether these
conflicts among the different communities living in the locations are linked to their
perceptions towards the conservancy as a source of community livelihoods. Thus the
study hypothesis was that the different communities living in the Conservancy may have
different perceptions under Linkert scale towards institutional governance, rangeland
management and conservancy contribution on specific aspects of community
development (education, market access, peaceful coexistence and increased incomes) in
Tana River County. Thus education in the study was considered as a means of livelihood
improvements. The overall aim of this study was to determine perceptions among the local
community towards LTDC as a resource with benefits towards community livelihood
improvements in Tana River County. The study was conducted through a randomized
study design using semi-structured questionnaire, Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and
Focus Group Discussion (FGDs). The research was conducted between December 2015
and February 2016. Inferential statistics (Chi-square) in R were used to analyze the
categorical data. The results showed that there were significant differences among the age
groups in Chara, Ozi and Konemansa (p < 0.05). Additionally, there were significant
differences on their perceptions on LTDC contribution to education (p < 0.05), and
institutional governance (p < 0.05), the contribution of the LTDC board of management
(p < 0.05), investment Sub-committee (p < 0.05), peace sub-committee (p < 0.05),
respectively. Additionally, there were significant differences on the perception of the
contribution of tourism Sub-Committee (p < 0.05), contribution of improved rangeland
vi
management (p < 0.05), human-wildlife conflict before the conservancy (p < 0.05),
human-wildlife conflict after the establishment of the conservancy (p < 0.05), as well as
significant differences on perception towards grazing sub-committee (p < 0.05).
Moreover, there were significant differences on perceptions on the benefits of the
conservancy to the community (p < 0.05), the contribution to education (p < 0.05) the
contribution of conservancy to peaceful coexistence (p < 0.05), and on increased income
from the conservancy (p < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences on the
participants’ perceptions on the contribution of the Conservancy to market access of their
products (p > 0.05). Overall the results showed differential perceptions on contributions
of LTDC towards livelihood improvements of local communities in Tana River County
and suggest that the establishment of the conservancy as a resource has had accrued
benefits to different communities living in the three locations of Chara, Ozi and
Konemansa. It would be interesting to carry out similar work on other conservancies
established within the County (and elsewhere in the coast) to assess their contributions
towards livelihoods im