On Friday 9 April 2021, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Kenya handed over a new grader tractor to Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association (TTWCA) member conservancies to improve firefighting efforts in the fire-prone Taita Taveta-Tsavo landscape, the largest flora and fauna habitat in the country.

The tractor will enable the development and maintenance of cut lines and roads in the conservancies to prevent the spread of fires from one conservancy to the next.

Approximately 10,000 acres of land were cleared by fierce fires that swept across the vast ranches and the Tsavo National Park in 2020 alone.

The fires greatly threaten the wildlife, vegetation and livestock in the region, which is rich in ranching and tourism activities.

Containing fires in the landscape will, therefore, not only safeguard the landscape’s wildlife, vegetation and livestock but also significantly protect the local economy and livelihoods.

The tractor donation is part of WWF-Kenya’s support of TTWCA work in wildlife conservation and community livelihoods, which looks to protect wildlife and develop livelihoods in the region. It comes a week after WWF-Kenya donated water tanks to Taita Taveta conservancies and expanded water pans to improve availability of adequate water for livestock and wildlife in the landscape.