We are delighted to announce our latest Marion Paviour Award winner for 2024 – Kioko Kilonzo!
Kioko’s project focuses on reducing human-wildlife conflict and protecting critically endangered vulture populations, particularly by engaging local communities and collaborating with them.
In early 2024, a poisoning event at a ranch in Laikipia, Kenya, killed over 50 White-backed and Rüppell’s Vultures. This ultimately inspired Kioko’s project, ‘Mitigating human-wildlife conflict: protecting critically endangered vultures in Laikipia, Kenya.’
Unlike many poisoning events effecting vultures in Africa, where poachers purposefully poison carcasses to target vultures that give their position away, this particular event was fuelled by conflict with large carnivores – with the poisoned carcass believed to be intended for lions as a strategy to reduce threats to livestock. Measures taken by people to protect their livelihoods from real or perceived threats from wild animals can often have wide impacts on animals not intended to be impacted, as was the case here. Projects that seek to change that are vital for creating and maintaining healthy ecosystems.
Kioko shares some thoughts on winning our Marion Paviour Award, and his hopes for his project below!
“I am deeply honoured and thrilled to receive the 2024 Marion Paviour Award! Thank you to the Hawk Conservancy Trust for this recognition and support of our vulture conservation work in Laikipia.
The recent poisoning incidents affecting critically endangered vultures in Laikipia, Kenya, highlight the urgent need for conservation action. As a passionate conservationist working across Kenya’s diverse landscapes, I’ve witnessed firsthand how human-wildlife conflict threatens these magnificent birds. This project represents a crucial intervention, combining rigorous scientific monitoring through field surveys, camera trapping, and community-based data collection with innovative conservation approaches. Through the Marion Paviour Award, we will be able to establish a comprehensive monitoring system, train a network of local vulture guardians, implement early warning systems for poisoning incidents, and create sustainable community engagement programs in Laikipia. My career aspiration is to develop innovative solutions that bridge conservation science with community needs, ensuring the long-term survival of vulnerable species. This award will be instrumental in launching our comprehensive vulture conservation initiative, which we hope will become a model for similar projects across East Africa. By combining traditional knowledge with modern monitoring techniques, we aim to create a future where vultures thrive alongside human communities, maintaining their vital role in our ecosystems.”
We are excited to hear how Kioko’s project progresses – watch this space!
