ABSTRACT
The Hanoi statement in 2016 recognizes the importance of engaging and integrating communities as partners in wildlife conservation and tourism. However, in Kenyan context has been an exclusion of indigenous peoples in benefitting and sustainably using the conservation resources. Kenyan indigenous forest resources do not reflect the socio-economic development priorities of communities adjacent to protected areas. The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated and deepened the socio-economic crisis in Kenyan context resulting from decades of historical exclusion of indigenous people from conservation enterprise development and tourism from our conservation areas. This chapter reviews and provide policy analysis and priorities for wildlife conservation, social development and sustainable tourism in the Kenyan context. The study includes a policy analysis of the conservation models in the country as well as underpinning a global, regional and national context. Findings of this study propose a review of national socio-economic and development priorities in wildlife conservation and tourism sector in the African context, where diversity of ecosystem benefits and conservation policies in Kenya account for indigenous cultural services that need to be preserved and conserved.
