Human populations and activities both within and
around the MMNR have increased dramatically over recent decades.
These pressures on the Reserve range from internal factors such as
high visitor densities impacting on the Reserve’s habitats
and wildlife, to even more profound long-term external factors,
such as diminishing quantities and erratic flow of water in the
Mara River, the lifeline of the Reserve, and changing land use
practices, such as conversion to wheat farming in the north of the
ecosystem, which is eroding the dispersal areas and migration
corridors that are critical to the survival of the Reserve’s
wildlife. The scale of these pressures is such that concerted
action by Reserve managers and other stakeholders is now urgently
needed, which is the major function of the Ecological Management
Programme.
Although long-term ecological change is a natural
and important aspect of the Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem, human
activities and impacts, particularly in the greater ecosystem
beyond the MMNR’s boundary, have dramatically increased over
recent decades, and in some cases have already substantially
impacted on the area’s ecology. This is perhaps most evident
in the significant decline of migratory species in the Kenyan part
of the ecosystem, and also in the potentially ecologically
destructive reduction of water levels in the Mara River. At the
same time, pressures from tourism development and visitor use
within the Mara Reserve have also greatly intensified, which unless
appropriately managed have the potential to seriously impact on the
ecology of the Reserve itself, and to undermine the very resources
that make the area so attractive to visitors.
Managing these and other human-induced changes
impacting on the MMNR’s ecology, and balancing the competing
needs of resource conservation and use, are arguably the greatest
challenges facing the management of the MMNR today. The Ecological
Management Programme will play a crucial role in spearheading
management responses to these issues, not only by providing the
ecological information that is needed to better understand the
underlying facts driving these impacts, but also by leading the
implementation and adaptation of management interventions designed
to address the most significant threats to the area’s
exceptional natural resources.
To address these issues, the Programme first
identifies the most important and representative biological
features of the Reserve’s ecosystem – called
the Conservation Targets - including the key
species and habitats that are represented in the Reserve, as well
as the system-level features that are critical to the Reserve. The
programme then identifies the key ecological attributes that are
vital to maintaining the conservation targets, as well as the
critical threats impacting on the targets. This information is then
used as a basis for the development of the Programme’s
management objectives and actions, with the aim of ensuring that
management attention is focusing on the most important biological
components of the Reserve and the most important threats impacting
on them.
The guiding principles that describe key factors
taken into account in the development of the Ecological Management
Programme, and that will influence the way the programme is
implemented and the achievement of the Programme
Purpose.
The four guiding principles for the Ecological
Management Programme are:
-
Sustaining
the MMNR’s critical role at the heart of the greater
Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem
-
Maintaining a
careful balance between the conservation and use of natural
resources
-
Enhancing
collaboration and cooperation in ecosystem
management
-
Strengthening
practical management through improved ecological monitoring and
research
