Community Attitudes and Knowledge on Conservation of Rothschild’s Giraffes in Ruma National Park and Mwea National Reserve in Kenya

Abstract

The attitude and conservation knowledge of Rothschild’s giraffe ecosystems by host communities is critical in sustainability of parks and reserves in Kenya. This study was conducted in two different giraffe habitats, namely Ruma National Park and Mwea National Reserve in Kenya. The objective of the study was to assess the attitudes and wildlife conservation knowledge of the local community towards the adjacent protected area. A descriptive research design that involved administering of closed ended questionnaires in the survey was used to obtain data from the local Community.  Binary logistic regression was applied on statistical data to ascertain the relationship between independent variables and the dependent variables of the study. To ascertain the intensity of attitudes and knowledge, a likert scale was used.  In addition, a statistical significance (p ≤ 0.05) was used to ascertain inferences from the results. The results indicate that, the community’s perception of wildlife conservation Knowledge was moderate χ2 (1,315) =31.641, p=0.000. Their attitude score based on the rating of the future of the Park and Reserve was low (F (4, 275) = 11.104, p = 0.000). However, the majority of the community (90%) felt the need to be involved further in the process of decision making in matters pertaining to conservation of the park and the reserve. Based on the findings, the study recommends that, Kenya Wildlife Service should involve the community in the decision making and management of these protected areas. In addition, the host communities should be capacity built on wildlife conservation approaches in Ruma National Park and Mwea National Reserve.