The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has announced its partnership with Archipelagus, an East African conservation non-profit organisation, as part of a wider programme to strengthen management and support the restoration of ecosystems in Sibiloi National Park and Central Island National Park.
Both are part of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Lake Turkana National Parks, a network of protected parks and community-managed rangelands spanning more than 6 000 square kilometres. It is home to communities who have lived off the land for generations as well as rare wildlife and archaeological sites.
The Lake Turkana National Parks are currently classified as “in danger” on UNESCO’s World Heritage List with unregulated fishing damaging breeding grounds and grassland degradation threatening wildlife. The increasing pressure on natural resources has heightened tensions among neighbouring communities.
The phased strategy will establish clear security and land-use governance aimed at ultimately restoring the ecosystem. Early priorities include establishing a new headquarters at Sibiloi, a joint operations centre and additional ranger outposts, supported by vehicles and real-time monitoring systems.
Management will then support the Community Land Management Committee that governs land use. This will include providing communities with employment opportunities that will give them a direct stake in the landscape’s recovery. And, finally, it will reintroduce species of wildlife, such as reticulated giraffe, Grevy’s zebra, plains zebra and Somali ostrich. Black rhino reintroduction is part of the long-term conservation vision.
The longer-term vision also includes carefully managed nature-based tourism alongside conservation employment, improved water access and community-led fisheries management.
Archipelagus joins a group of partners focused on implementing the Lake Turkana National Parks Management Plan (2026-2036), including the Turkana Basin Institute, National Museums of Kenya, the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, the Kenya Fisheries Service, the South Island Trust, community land management committees and the county governments of Marsabit and Turkana.
