Bridging the conservation and development trade-off?: A working landscape critique of a conservancy in the Maasai Mara

The recent call to halt biodiversity loss by protecting half the planet has been hotly contested because of the extent to which people might be excluded from these landscapes. It is clear that incorporating landscapes that implicitly work for indigenous people is vital to achieving any sustainable targets.We examine an attempt to balance the trade-offs between conservation and development in Enonkishu Conservancy in the Maasai Mara, using a working landscape approach. Mobile livestock production strategies are theoretically consistent with wildlife-based activities and can present a win-win solution for both conservation and development. We explore the success and failings of Enonkishu’s evolving attempts to achieve this: addressing the criticism of the conservation sector that it fails to learn from its mistakes. We found that Enonkishu has had considerable positive conservation outcomes, preventing the continued encroachment of farmland, maintaining and improving rangeland health rela..., Rangeland health: Fourteen 25 metre transects across Enonkishu were sampled four times per year since 2018 using five equally spaced (5-metre) quadrats. Four transects are within control areas that are not included in Enonkishu’s grazing plan and ten transects are located within areas included in the grazing plan. Eighteen parameters are examined in each quadrat to describe cover, soil surface description (capping), litter (the amount of dead plant debris covering the soil surface), and plant species (grass, tree, shrub, forbs or sedge). The corresponding ratings are re-calibrated such that a rating of “5” indicates the best possible score, with “0” indicating the worst possible score. As an example, the parameter of Plant Density rates 5 if there is 100% plant cover, with a score of 0 indicating no plant cover .
Wildlife Monitoring:  Data to estimate numbers of large mammals in Enonkishu conservancy were collected twice per month since June 2016 via two 2km strip transects. All mammal..., , # Bridging the conservation and development trade-off? A working landscape critique of a conservancy in the Maasai Mara

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.547d7wmh6](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.547d7wmh6)

## Description of the data and file structure

We have submitted the following raw data:

1. Enonkishu Wildlife Transect Data (xlsx)
2. Naretoi Wildlife Transect Data (xlsx)
3. Household Survey Results (xlsx)
4. Enonkishu Biomonitoring (xlsx)
5. Enonkishu Agriculture Shapefiles (1984 - 2020) (geojson)

**Enonkishu Wildlife Transect Data (xlsx)**

* Wildlife Monitoring (Enonkishu and Naretoi): Data to estimate numbers of large mammals in Enonkishu conservancy were collected twice per month since June 2016 via two 2km strip transects. All mammals located within 100m (as verified by rangefinder) from the transect are recorded. Population estimates are then calculated for the conservancy using Jolly II methodologies (Jolly, 1969). In Naretoi wildlife data was collected twice per month s...