Thread by @IndigenousConvo

The Money is BIG @bonifacemwangi BIG. Land issues of #Samburu #Maa, #Rendille #Pokot is Politicians + #NIRT with #GoK behind them - and behind the land sales - they also use @NPSOfficial_KE, @AP's to evict pastoralists.
@ckfoot @gathara @alaminkimathi

https://twitter.com/bonifacemwangi/status/1030022717288972290

Because it seems that this line of #CONservation has gotten international attention and more people are decrying the evictions of land from the indigenous community - the conservationists have taken an ugly turn - Sell wildlife....
#CONservation
#TheBigWhiteLie
@NationBreaking

Yet this is just as disastrous as evicting indigenous pastoralists.
• WILD LIFE belongs to #KENYANS as a whole, it cannot belong to eg, #NRT because it happens to be within those fences - fences which we agree, were put up illegally.
#thebigwhitelie
#thebigconservationlie

• Kenyans shall be LOCKED OUT of the sales - eg, As a Northerner, I have a hippo on my farm. Can I sell it.? It's 'mine' and has been on my little farm as a Kenyan. NO. KWS will state that the Hippo is not 'my individual property' and must be returned to "KWS"
#thebigwhitelie

• Loss of Big Mammals causes LAND UN-PRODUCTIVITY and is the reason our rich mix of forest and grassland turned our land unproductive and semi-desert - our WILD LIFE are THE seed distributors. We depend on WILD LIFE for LIFE.
#thebigconservationlie
#thebigwhitelie
@kepaja_trust

"With their prodigious appetites and ability to uproot or trample trees, elephants play a major role in shaping the environment, and their loss could radically change the landscape." (Anthony Barnosky photo)
US Berkeley - Research, Science & environment @UCBerkeley @VMatiru

"Large browsers like elephants eat small trees and shrubs and uproot or break down trees, as well as trample & churn the soil. Other large herbivores, such as bison and moose, keep shrubs in check and change soil structure and nutrients as they feed, defecate and urinate../1

/2
you see the impact of defaunation today in #Africa, where the removal of elephant populations has led to these shrubby, scraggly acacias filling the savanna landscape,” Charles Marshall, Prof of integrative biology + director of @UCBerkeley Museum of Paleontology. @ckfoot

“It’s not a simple story pulling out a big beast .. it's dependent on how big a beast, how that beast interacts with plants and animals in the area, and what other plants and animals are there and what the animal does for a #living.” Taken from [news.berkeley.edu/2015/10/26/los…]

We try to make you aware of these simple LIFE cycle rules.
#NRT via Ian Craig have been consistently 'air lifting' Wild Life as a "Game" from Pastoralists lands to #Lewa or other #'Conservations' - despite Pastoralist elders disapproval.
#CONservationists
#thebigwhitelie

Another reason @bonifacemwangi why Kenya MUST NOT LOOSE her wild life through sale to Zoo's is because they have a job to maintain LIFE in KENYA - They MUST remain WILD - and our Elephants bring #RAIN ./1
@kepaja_trust @BBCEnvironment
#CONservation
#thebigwhitelie
#NotForSale

../2
The tropical forests of #Congo help create downpours many miles away. What’s a key element in this forest flourishing?
The Elephant.
#CONservation
#thebigwhitelie
OUR WILDLIFE #NotForSale to a cold zoo in #Europe #Asia or #America
This is OUR LIFE
bbc.com/future/story/2…

*#NRT not [NIRT] - Northern Rangelands Trust