Forest governance, livelihoods and resilience: Tte case of loita forest (entime e naimina enkiyio), Narok county, Kenya

Abstract

Loita forest (Entim e Naimina enkiyio) is an indigenous upland dry forest of approximately 330 km2located in Narok County, southern Kenya. It is rich in biodiversity, is of religious and cultural significance to the Loita Maasai, is an important habitat for wildlife, and is a source of water, dry season grazing and timber and non-timber forest products. Before and since Kenya's independence in 1963, this forest has been owned and managed by the Loita sub-tribe of the Maasai, with the adjoining lands in the division. However, in the early 1990s, it would have been converted into a nature reserve by Narok County Council had the Loita community not resisted through a court case. Over the last 25 years, the increased settlement and logging in the forest have become a threat to biodiversity conservation and may in future negatively affect the community's livelihoods. The Loita Maasai are, however, careful to deter outsiders from invading their forest, while tolerating settlement in the forest by their own community members. Changing lifestyles, livelihoods and attitudes towards, and use of, this forest by community members undermine the roles of existing traditional institutions such as the council of elders and the Oloiboni who have traditionally managed this forest. The decline in the authority of traditional institutions and the lack of strong modern institutions to support them leaves gaps in the continued sustainable management of this important indigenous forest.