Nick Wadhams

British army goes boom

Time.com just posted a wacky little story of mine: "In Kenya, Can War Games Coexist With Wildlife?"

It's pretty self-explanatory. For years, the British army has trained its troops in the Laikipia area, which has recently marketed itself as a premier wildlife-tourism destination. That marketing effort has coincided with the intensification of British army training exercises, as the UK beefs up its presence in Afghanistan. 

Can the two co-exist? Researchers are trying to figure out the effect of all those booms on wildlife. No results yet. But the army does seem surprisingly cooperative and flexible; so far, things seem to be working out (particularly for the landowners who make millions of dollars in rent).

Uninvolved

Even the U.N. is probably not so linguistically obtuse to have a sign that says "Involved in Africa," but this is still mildly amusing.

Since jatropha doesn't work...

... shouldn't Kenya consider rabbits?

Don't Believe What You Read

Astute readers of this blog will note that yesterday, I wrote a post citing an AFP report that Uganda had lifted a ban on trophy hunting.

Turns out that story was, um, false. Uganda has not lifted a ban on trophy hunting. Doing so would require an act of parliament. What it has done is expand a limited sport-hunting pilot project that began in 2000 to another area of the country. I found this out because I called the spokeswoman for the Uganda Wildlife Authority to ask about the ban being lifted and she told me that the ban had, in fact, not been lifted. 

I am not sure how AFP got the story so completely wrong, but there you have it.

Trophy Hunting

Uganda has ended its ban on trophy hunting. Will that lead Kenya to do the same?

This is a huge issue in East Africa. Many of the region's most respected conservationists are coming around to the idea that Kenya's hunting ban, imposed in the mid-1970s, has only made things worse for wildlife (numbers are down by an estimated 70 percent since then, though there are many other factors behind the drop).

Killing wildlife may seem anathema to animal lovers, who, when they think of sport hunting, might recall colonial-era images of Teddy Roosevelt standing in front of the 10 lions and three rhinoceros he killed that day. But if it's regulated properly, trophy hunting can be incredibly profitable, and beneficial.

The idea is that communities will be more interested in protecting wildlife if they can get some benefit from it. In present-day East Africa, it's difficult to overstate just how much people hate wildlife. Elephants eat all their crops and lions kill their cattle. If an American or a Japanese hunter is willing to pay them $50,000 to kill a single lion, perhaps they'll be more likely to tolerate those losses.

The fear, as some animal welfare groups claim, is that Kenya is too corrupt to regulate trophy hunting properly. But some conservationists argue that the Kenyan government is too much in the thrall of "the animal rights lobby," as it's come to be known, with its big checks and frequent offers of assistance. And with wildlife numbers in such freefall, it would seem that it's time for new ideas.

The Jatropha Malaise

More jatropha news, this time out of Tanzania: The government there has decided to halt all biofuel investment projects for fear that they will result in farmers being removed from their land to make way for crops planted in poorly regulated schemes. 

The big problem with biofuel projects in most of Africa is that farmers are told that there will be a market for the seeds, when in fact there is not. It is just that simple. There is no infrastructure for farmers -- most of whom do not even have cars -- to bring their seeds to buyers, and there are very few people to buy the seeds anyhow. Jatropha may someday power lamps and stoves, but it will be a very long time before that happens on a scale that makes growing it worthwhile. There are bigger projects that do not involve small-scale farmers, but, as in Tanzania's case, they often involve kicking farmers off their land, which may amount to much the same thing.

In Kenya, the drought has been so bad that it doesn't really matter what people plant because nothing is growing. But when the rains improve, and there is still no market for jatropha, farmers will certainly feel the sting.

Jatropha

My stories about jatropha have moved at last at Time.com and NPR.

One thing that really struck me about this story was the sheer number of con-men who have sought to perpetrate the jatropha hype. I'm not really sure what can be done about it. Companies in the United States and Britain (notably D1 Oils) promote jatropha based on dubious science. You then have a bunch of men and women in Kenya and places like it who read the hype on the Internet and then persuade farmers to buy seeds at exorbitant prices by wooing them with impossible fantasies.

When I think about this stuff, I keep coming back to the amazing farmers who plant jatropha. I was so impressed by their knowledge of the land and their adaptability. They are always willing to try new things (in other words, innovate), and refuse to be cast as victims when they realize they have been scammed. Many I spoke to plan to keep jatropha around for a while, and if it really doesn't bring them any money in the long run, they'll pull it up and try something else. 

It's Our Turn To Eat

One of the most bizarre things I've come across in my modest three years living in Kenya is the case of Michela Wrong's book exposing Kenyan corruption, "It's Our Turn To Eat." 

The book is available pretty much everywhere in the world but Kenya, thanks to British colonial-era libel laws that permit someone who feels aggrieved by a book's author to sue the store where it is sold. It's been done before it Kenya, and the result is that no bookstore here will stock "It's Our Turn To Eat." I did a little story about bookstore owners' cowardice for Irish Radio back in June.

Talk about shameful. The most tragic part of the story is that Kenyans, who widely accept that their government is corrupt, have been denied the chance to read a book that details their leaders' chicanery. But that may be changing. If you have access to the Internet (no sure thing in Kenya), you can now order the book and pay via M-Pesa, the mobile-banking service provided by Kenya's main telecom provider, Safaricom. I just ordered a copy myself.

Apparently people have been reluctant to order from the site because they're worried it might be one of Kenya's legion web and email scams. That's not the case. Here is a note from Michela:

"The retail boycott on "It's Our Turn to Eat" remains in force, despite government spokesman Alfred Mutua's statement that the book is not banned by the government. Despite recent distribution efforts by USAID, the churches, Pen-Kenya and various other NGOs, the only Kenyans buying it at the moment are those who travel abroad and get it there or who own international credit cards and can order it off Amazon.

In a bid to get the book out to ordinary members of the public, a group of Kenyans - some based in Nairobi and some living in London -- has recently come up with a new initiative. They have set up a Kenyan website with an Mpesa link - no need for credit cards - selling copies of the book. A local distributor then makes sure customers receive their ordered books. They're starting off with an experimental 150 copies, which have just arrived in Nairobi and are now available for sale.

If this method of getting the book out to the public works, they'll step up numbers.

The website link is: http://www.thekenyashop.com/. Two people who placed orders received same day delivery from the local distributor, so it really works. It's not a scam, or a rip-off scheme. Those behind the scheme are keeping their identities anonymous at the moment, but the author knows them all and can vouch for the fact that this is not a con trick. It is, on the contrary, an imaginative attempt at using modern technology to give ordinary Kenyans access to a book they have every right to read.

The book is priced in accordance to the sourcing and shipping costs. The individuals living abroad will not derive any profit from this scheme -- this is guaranteed. The profit on each book is exclusively to compensate the local individuals for the personal risk they are taking. They are selling it at 1,500 shillings. The book currently sells in the UK at £12.99."