SUBMISSIONS ON THE REVIEW OF THE WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT ACT NO. 47 OF 2013

Natural Justice submits a series of proposed amendments to the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act No. 47 of 2013. The organization argues for a 'human-rights approach to conservation' and the inclusion of 'access to information' and 'access to justice' as guiding principles. Key recommendations include establishing an external auditing authority for the wildlife service to prevent abuse of licensing powers, ensuring the inclusion of socially excluded groups (such as women, youth, and indigenous communities) in County Wildlife Conservation and Compensation Committees, and requiring that the declaration of protected areas incorporate local community traditional knowledge. The submission also highlights the need to protect wildlife migratory corridors from state-led and private development projects and calls for clearer guidelines on bioprospecting and the monitoring of offenses within private conservation systems.

• Natural Justice proposes that the Act's guiding principles be expanded to include a human-rights approach to conservation, noting that current silence on 'human rights or people-centric' issues contributes to rising rights violations linked to conservation models.
• To prevent potential abuse where the wildlife service acts as both the licensing and monitoring body, Natural Justice suggests creating an external auditing authority composed of academia, civil society, the community, and other stakeholders.
• The submission argues for the inclusion of socially excluded groups—specifically women, youth, persons living with disabilities, and indigenous and marginalized communities—within the County Wildlife Conservation and Compensation Committees.
• Natural Justice suggests that the process for declaring protected areas should be broadened beyond the Cabinet Secretary and National Assembly to include NEMA and local community traditional knowledge holders who understand breeding sites and migratory corridors.
• The document highlights that development projects, including those led by the state, are closing wildlife corridors at an 'unprecedented rate,' and proposes that the Act explicitly require government agencies, private developers, and contractors to keep these corridors open.
• Concerns are raised regarding the lack of clarity on how offenses and penalties are monitored in private conservation systems, specifically noting that private ranches with airstrips could facilitate illegal poaching and logging by bypassing public airport scrutiny.

APA

Farah, M. (2021). SUBMISSIONS ON THE REVIEW OF THE WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT ACT NO. 47 OF 2013. Natural Justice. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/NJ_The-Review-of-WMCA-2013_.pdf

Chicago

Farah, Maryama. SUBMISSIONS ON THE REVIEW OF THE WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT ACT NO. 47 OF 2013. Natural Justice, 2021. https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/NJ_The-Review-of-WMCA-2013_.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Farah |first1=Maryama |title=SUBMISSIONS ON THE REVIEW OF THE WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT ACT NO. 47 OF 2013 |publisher=Natural Justice |date=31 March 2021 |url=https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/NJ_The-Review-of-WMCA-2013_.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{farah2021submissions, author = {Farah, Maryama}, title = {{SUBMISSIONS ON THE REVIEW OF THE WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT ACT NO. 47 OF 2013}}, publisher = {Natural Justice}, year = {2021}, month = mar, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/NJ_The-Review-of-WMCA-2013_.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }