Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Management and Conservation

Natural resource management matters have attracted growing attention in recent decades, particularly in the tropics, which harbours most of the world’s biodiversity. The Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Management and Conservation Program is designed to produce well rounded and competent personnel with the requisite knowledge, skills and competencies required to offer high-quality services in the wildlife and tourism sectors, research, academia, environmental and natural resources management, amongst other relevant fields in both the public and private sectors of the world economy. Wildlife, natural resources, and tourism are key sectors in the national economies of many countries globally. Wildlife is one of the main natural resource bases in Kenya. The Wildlife and Tourism sub-sector contributes about 10% of Kenya’s gross domestic product (GDP) and is one of the three main sources of foreign exchange for the country. Wildlife also forms an important economic activity for local communities and is a major source of livelihood in Kenya, the region and globally.

Environmental management and conservation play a major role in planning and sustainable development worldwide. This requirement demands adequate capacity building in both personnel and technology. The wildlife sector, which sustains the tourism industry, is expanding rapidly and so is the demand for the relevant skilled personnel. In recognition of this demand, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine together with other stakeholders provides a curriculum aimed at producing graduates who understand the complex and dynamic socio-ecological concepts and principles that support cooperative actions to conserve wildlife and to increase capacity for identifying and implementing priority actions for biodiversity conservation. It provides for market-focused, hands-on, practical oriented training.

This curriculum was developed bearing in mind the policy, legislative and institutional changes touching on the wildlife and tourism sectors in recent years as well as the fact that most of the wildlife exists outside the protected area network. Wildlife conservation and management is recognized as a form of land use that has equal recognition with other land-use types. The curriculum is also intended to directly meet the workforce requirements regionally and internationally, recognizing the changing trends in wildlife, environment, natural resources, and tourism sectors. The curriculum is responding to the global aspirations and priorities to enhance biodiversity conservation, livelihoods and environmental services for all because of improved and sustainably managed wildlife. More importantly, the curriculum aims at training potential wildlife managers to integrate productivity with beneficial conservation of biodiversity for socio-economic benefits and environmental services. The curriculum is aligned to directly contribute to meeting Kenya’s long-term development blueprint goals, regional and global challenges, including those set by the Sustainable Development Goals and international agreements (e.g. Convention on Biological Diversity [CBD]) for sustainable use and conservation of natural resources and the environment.

During the revision of this curriculum, an integrated stakeholders’ input was sought from students, wildlife and tourism sector, research institutions and tertiary academic institutions, Government Ministries, County Government, International and Regional Organizations, Universities and other wildlife-related institutions including but not limited to wildlife conservancies, wildlife industry, and NGOs. Benchmarking with other local and international institutions/universities offering similar courses was also carried out.