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Animals

Kenya Wildlife Conservation and Management Act

The current Kenyan wildlife statute: public ownership of wildlife, parks and conservancies, and a penalty scheme for killing and trafficking.

Savanna elephants in Amboseli National Park, Kenya: wildlife the 2013 Act is written to manage, not a photograph of a named case
Image: Diego Delso ( CC BY-SA 4.0 )
Animals Existing / enacted Kenya

Official name: Wildlife Conservation and Management Act
Citation: Act No. 47 of 2013, now Cap. 376; assented 24 December 2013, commenced 10 January 2014
Year / status: In force since 10 January 2014, with later amendments.

What it does

The Act vests wildlife in the people of Kenya, held in trust by the state. It sets out the Kenya Wildlife Service, national parks and reserves, community and private conservancies, species listing, and offences for killing, capturing, or trafficking contrary to the Act. It is a conservation-and-management statute, including sustainable-use language, not an imported farmed-animal campaign law.

Where it applies / status

Kenya, including protected areas and wildlife on other land as the Act provides.

Documented benefits or intended effects

Intended effects: a modern legal frame after the older 1976 Act, space for conservancies, and stronger written penalties for poaching and trade. Outcomes on the ground still depend on enforcement, community deals, and the ivory and bushmeat trades. This page does not invent a national elephant-recovery percentage for 2013-2026.

Caveats

Human-wildlife conflict and compensation disputes are built into Kenyan wildlife politics. A statute is not a ranger. International trade rules still run through CITES implementing regulations.

Sources

Kenya Law official text (Cap. 376); FAOLEX record for Act No. 47 of 2013.