Conservation International Kenya

Abbreviation	CI Kenya
Type	Country programme
Headquarters	Nairobi, Kenya
Region served	Kenya
Parent organization	Conservation International
Website	www.conservation.org/places/kenya

Conservation International Kenya (CI Kenya) is the Kenya country programme of the environmental non-governmental organization Conservation International. The programme is based in Nairobi.[1] The programme's work in Kenya spans nearly 4.9 million hectares and includes forest and rangeland conservation and restoration, ecotourism, and climate-mitigation activities such as REDD+.[2]

Conservation International Kenya was founded in 2014.[2] By the mid-2010s, Conservation International supported stakeholder-engagement activities around Kenya's REDD+ policy discussions and participated in Global Environment Facility (GEF) programming in Kenya.[3][4][5] In 2017, the Chyulu Hills Carbon Project launched in the Chyulu Hills landscape with partners including the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.[6] During the COVID-19-related downturn in tourism, Conservation International and partners established the Maasai Mara Rescue Fund to help wildlife conservancies cover lease payments to landowners and reduce pressure for land conversion.[7][8][9] In 2021, Apple and Conservation International partnered with local conservation organisations in Kenya on savanna restoration in the Chyulu Hills region through the "Restore Fund".[10] In 2024, S&P Global Commodity Insights was selected by Conservation International (on behalf of the Government of Kenya) to develop a national REDD+ project registry.[11] In 2025, Conservation International was among signatories to an MoU launching the Kenya chapter of the Global Mangrove Alliance focused on mangrove and seagrass conservation along the Kenyan coast.[12][13][14][15]

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Selected programme locations in Kenya (1 Nairobi, 2 Chyulu Hills landscape, 3 Greater Maasai Mara, 4 Kilifi (Kenyan coast), 5 Suba South (Lake Victoria))

The programme is based in Nairobi.[1][2]

Conservation International has served as an agency for Global Environment Facility (GEF) programming in Kenya. A 2016 GEF project identification form for a Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT) project in Kenya set the objective of enhancing Kenya's institutional and technical capacity for transparency under the Paris Agreement, including strengthening a land-based emissions estimation system.[4] A 2017 report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on GEF activities summarised the Kenya CBIT project and described experience-sharing in the East Africa region.[5]

Stakeholder-engagement activities around Kenya's REDD+ policy discussions were implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the East African Wildlife Society, with support from Conservation International and the U.S. Department of State.[3]

Conservation International is listed as the lead agency for the GEF project Advancing human-wildlife conflict management effectiveness in Kenya through an integrated approach.[16] A Kenyan government request for proposals and a validation-workshop report covered preparation and validation of project documentation for the GEF-funded Kenya human-wildlife conflict management project.[17][18]

In 2024, S&P Global Commodity Insights announced that it had been selected by Conservation International (on behalf of the Government of Kenya) to develop a national REDD+ project registry intended to track the lifecycle of credits from interventions aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and related forest activities; S&P Global said the registry was due to be operational by the second quarter of 2025.[11]

CI Kenya's work in the Chyulu Hills landscape in Makueni County has included community-based rangeland restoration aimed at climate resilience and pastoral livelihoods.[1]

The Chyulu Hills Carbon Project is a forest carbon project in the Chyulu Hills landscape, launched in 2017 with partners including the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.[6] "Pre-REDD" activities began in 2010, and verified credits had been issued for multiple monitoring periods under a voluntary carbon standard registry.[19]

The project's proponent is the Chyulu Hills Conservation Trust, a partnership involving government agencies, local NGOs and Maasai group ranches, with support from Conservation International.[20] The project has been presented as providing long-term financing linked to protecting the landscape and supporting Indigenous and local community development needs.[20] Land-use and livelihood changes in the Chyulu landscape have been linked to increased human-wildlife conflict, and the project has involved multiple organisations working together in the landscape.[21]

Carbon-credit revenue from the project has been presented as supporting local conservation and community activities; a 2024 profile described carbon finance as helping fund conservation and community programmes in the landscape.[22] During the COVID-19 downturn in tourism, carbon-offset revenue from the project was reported to have exceeded lost ecotourism income and enabled the hiring of additional rangers for anti-poaching and forest protection work.[23]

The Chyulu Hills carbon project has been referenced in litigation challenging carbon-neutral marketing claims. In a U.S. federal lawsuit over Apple's "carbon neutral" marketing for certain Apple Watch models, plaintiffs alleged that carbon offset projects relied on for the claims, including the Chyulu Hills project, did not provide "genuine" carbon reductions; Apple disputed the allegations in a statement quoted in reporting.[24][25] In Germany, a Frankfurt regional court barred Apple from advertising an Apple Watch as a "CO2-neutral product", finding consumers had been misled.[26]

In 2021, Apple and Conservation International partnered with local conservation organisations in Kenya to restore degraded savannas in the Chyulu Hills region as part of the "Restore Fund".[10] By 2025, an Apple-supported effort had restored 11,000 hectares of degraded rangeland in Kenya and set a target of 20,000 hectares restored by 2027.[27] The restoration work has taken place in the broader Tsavo-Chyulu landscape and has involved measures such as reseeding with native grasses and livestock-management approaches intended to improve pasture condition and reduce conflict pressures.[28]

The Maasai Mara Rescue Fund was established by Conservation International in partnership with the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association as a loan programme intended to help wildlife conservancies cover lease payments owed to landowners during the tourism downturn linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and reduce pressure for land conversion that could affect conservation outcomes.[7] In 2019, Maasai landowners collected more than US$7.5 million in lease payments and expected substantially lower payments during the tourism slump.[7]

The fund has been characterised as a multi-million-dollar intervention aimed at sustaining community conservancies during the pandemic-related collapse in tourism revenue, including being described as a US$5 million financial lifeline for conservancies while tourism revenue remained low.[8] The loans were intended to help households continue receiving income (including for basic needs such as healthcare and school fees), and replacement grant funding helped maintain wildlife patrols during the tourism downturn.[9]

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by five conservation organisations in Kenya established a collaboration intended to protect and restore mangrove forests and seagrass along the Kenyan coast. Signatories included Conservation International, IUCN, The Nature Conservancy, Wetlands International Eastern Africa, and WWF-Kenya.[12] The MoU launched the Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA) Kenya Chapter in Kilifi on the sidelines of National Mangrove Dialogue 2025, and outlined a five-year strategy for the chapter with themes including capacity building, science and monitoring, chapter development, innovative finance, and communications.[13] In 2024, the launch of the GMA-Kenya chapter followed a stakeholder meeting in Mombasa and was linked to a global goal of increasing mangrove cover by 20% by 2030, with support from the "Save Our Mangroves Now!" project funded by Germany's BMZ through WWF-Germany.[14] The partnership has been framed as advancing mangrove and seagrass conservation through a Kenya chapter of the Global Mangrove Alliance.[15]

A restocking effort for the native tilapia species Oreochromis esculentus in Lake Victoria involved Conservation International, Victory Farms, and the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), beginning at Rowo Beach in Suba South and with planned releases at additional beaches.[29][30] A Seeds of Gold feature in Nation Africa discussed efforts to conserve native lake fish in Lake Victoria in the context of aquaculture and conservation initiatives.[31]