Ogiek community all set to start monitoring Mt Elgon biodiversity

The Ogiek community of Mt Elgon in Kenya has led the design of a novel scientific sampling system based on indigenous knowledge.

With the sampling system in place, the community now has the skills and structures in place to implement a biodiversity monitoring programme that will allow them to gather, record and show evidence of their stewardship of the land and resources to policymakers, conservation practitioners and academic researchers, among others.

The Ogiek people, who have long safeguarded Mt Elgon’s rich biodiversity, were until recently still subject to forceful evictions from their lands in the name of conservation. Having won a landmark ruling in 2022 stating that previous evictions from their land were unlawful, they want people to recognise that their traditional practices and ways of managing their land benefit Mt Elgon’s biodiversity.

The monitoring programme includes mapping the terrain, managing data, using analysis tools, and designing rapid alert systems and protocols. A team of 17 community volunteers, 6 women and 11 men, completed monitoring trials in 2024, at times facing impenetrable vegetation, poor GPS signal, heavy rain, and herds of elephants. Elephants are one of the key species, along with bamboo, African olive, Elgon teak, medicinal plants, bushbuck, dik-dik, and hyena.

The scientific methods of biodiversity monitoring complement the indigenous practices of oral reports to elders, forest walks and high-point surveys.

FPP and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science (ICCS, at Oxford University) trained the team in scientific methods such as using quadrats, transect lines and camera traps; and collecting, storing and analysing data. They also provided the necessary equipment and accompanied the community in developing and trialling the programme. At the same time, both FPP and ICCS have learnt a huge amount from the skills and strategies of the Elgon Ogiek.