BEYOND ENFORCEMENT: SOCIO-CULTURAL DRIVERS OF WILDLIFE CRIME IN COMMUNITIES ADJACENT TO RUMA NATIONAL PARK, KENYA
Abstract
Purpose: This study examined the socio-cultural drivers influencing wildlife crime in communities adjacent to Ruma National Park, Kenya.
Methodology: The study adopted an embedded mixed-methods research design that integrated quantitative data from 380 household respondents selected through stratified random sampling with qualitative insights from 20 purposively selected key informants. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and multiple regression analysis by the aid of IBM SPSS Statistics Version 26, whereas qualitative data were analysed thematically.
Findings: The findings revealed that livelihood vulnerability (β = .218, p < .001), human–wildlife conflict (β = .181, p = .001), community collaboration (β = .147, p = .014), and conservation awareness programs (β = .123, p = .033) significantly influenced wildlife crime. Livelihood vulnerability emerged as the strongest predictor, indicating that wildlife crime is linked to local survival economies and socio-economic insecurities.
Conclusion: The study concludes that wildlife crime is a socially embedded phenomenon associated with complex interactions among livelihood conditions. The findings support a shift from enforcement-centered conservation toward integrated conservation approach. Recommendations: The study recommends that the Kenya Wildlife Service strengthen conflict-mitigation through rapid-response mechanisms, institutionalize community wildlife conservation committees at village and ward levels to enhance information sharing, conflict resolution, allocated Resources for skills training, start-up capital, extension services, and market linkages to support vulnerable community members and enhance conservation awareness programmes.
Keywords: Wildlife crime, conservation criminology, livelihood vulnerability, human–wildlife conflict, community participation, Ruma National Park.
References
Abukari, H., & Mwalyosi, R. B. (2020). Local communities’ perceptions about the impact of protected areas on livelihoods and community development. Global Ecology and Conservation, 22, e00909.
Adegbite, A. (2025). Cultural dimensions in wildlife preservation: African indigenous perspectives from Nigeria and Kenya. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 13(2), 444–473.
Anagnostou, M., Moreto, W. D., Gardner, C. J., & Doberstein, B. (2021). Poverty, pandemics, and wildlife crime. Conservation and Society, 19(4), 294-306.
Anagnostou, M., Mwedde, G., Roe, D., Smith, R. J., Travers, H., & Baker, J. (2020). Ranger perceptions of the role of local communities in providing actionable information on wildlife crime. Conservation Science and Practice, 2(6), e202.
Angwenyi, D., Potgieter, M., & Gambiza, J. (2021). Community perceptions towards nature conservation in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Nature Conservation, 43, 41-53.
Ariya, G., & Momanyi, S. (2020). Assessing wildlife consumption awareness and the attitudes of the local Lambwe Valley community towards Ruma National Park, Kenya.
Atuo, F. A., Fu, J., O’Connell, T. J., Agida, J. A., & Agaldo, J. A. (2020). Coupling law enforcement and community-based regulations in support of compliance with biodiversity conservation regulations. Environmental Conservation, 47(2), 104-112.
Ayeni, A. O., Aborisade, G. A., & Soneye, A. S. O. (2026). The challenges of collaboration between Indigenous Knowledge System and scientific Knowledge System on biodiversity conservation in West Africa: a semi-systematic narrative review. Cogent Social Sciences, 12(1), 2643478.
Bashir, M. A., & Wanyonyi, E. (2024). Winning space for conservation: the growth of wildlife conservancies in Kenya. Frontiers in Conservation Science, 5, 1385959.
Bond, J., & Mkutu, K. (2018). Exploring the hidden costs of human–wildlife conflict in northern Kenya. African Studies Review, 61(1), 33-54.
Burudi, J. W., Tormáné Kovács, E., & Katona, K. (2025). Wildlife fences to mitigate human–wildlife conflicts in Africa: a literature analysis. Diversity, 17(2), 87.
Cheloti, B. M., & Mulu, F. (2023). Assessing the scope and impact of wildlife trade and poaching in Kenya: Conservation, enforcement, and socioeconomic dimensions. Journal of African Interdisciplinary Studies, 7(9), 177-188.
Chepkwony, M. C., Lyakurwa, G. J., & Sabuhoro, E. (2025). Human–Wildlife Conflicts, Household Livelihood Security, and Conservation Support Among Residents Adjacent to the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Wild, 2(1), 6.
Costa, J., Baez-Camargo, C., Kassa, S., & Lugolobi, R. (2023). The role of informal networks in promoting illegal wildlife trade: a qualitative analysis from Uganda. Trends in Organized Crime, 26(4), 397-419.
Didarali, Z., et al. (2022). Awareness of environmental legislation as a deterrent for wildlife crime: A case with Maasai pastoralists, poison use and the Kenya Wildlife Act. Ambio, 51(4), 1047–1060.
Duffy, R., Massé, F., Smidt, E., Marijnen, E., Büscher, B., Verweijen, J., ... & Lunstrum, E. (2019). Why we must question the militarisation of conservation. Biological conservation, 232, 66-73.
Fang, L., Hong, Y., Zhou, Z., & Chen, W. (2021). The frequency and severity of crop damage by wildlife in rural Beijing, China. Forest Policy and Economics, 124, 102379.
Hübschle, A. M. (2017). The social economy of rhino poaching: of economic freedom fighters, professional hunters and marginalized local people. Current Sociology, 65(3), 427-447.
Kahler, J. S., & Gore, M. L. (2015). Local perceptions of risk associated with poaching of wildlife implicated in human-wildlife conflicts in Namibia. Biological Conservation, 189, 49-58.
Kahler, J. S., Reynald, D. M., & Gore, M. L. (2023). “I let it go:” Quantifying residential guardianship intentions when witnessing wildlife poaching. Biological Conservation, 277, 109829.
Katswera, K., Mutekanga, N.M., Twesigye, C.F. (2022). Community Perceptions and Attitudes towards Conservation of Wildlife in Uganda, Journal of Wildlife and Biodiversity, 6(4), 42-65. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6522377
Linning, S. J., Olaghere, A., & Eck, J. E. (2022). Say NOPE to social disorganization criminology: The importance of creators in neighborhood social control. Crime Science, 11(1), 5.
Lunstrum, E., Massé, F., Ashaba, I. M., Dutta, A., Marijnen, E., Mushonga, T., & Matose, F. (2025). Demilitarizing conservation. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 115(10), 2525-2537.
Mramba, M., & Mrimi, M. (2024). Evaluating the Effectiveness of Anti-Poaching Efforts in Combating Wildlife Poaching at Udzungwa Mountains National Park, Tanzania. NG Journal of Social Development, 14(2), 174-192
Mukeka, J. M., Ogutu, J. O., Kanga, E., & Roskaft, E. (2018). Characteristics of human-wildlife conflicts in Kenya: Examples of Tsavo and Maasai Mara regions. Environment and Natural Resources Research, 8(3), 148
Muneza, A. B., Amakobe, B., Kasaine, S., Kramer, D. B., Githiru, M., Roloff, G. J., ... & Montgomery, R. A. (2023). Socio-economic factors correlating with illegal use of giraffe body parts. Oryx, 57(4), 457-466.
Njoroge, P., & Mutune, J. (2024). Socio-economic inequality and wildlife crime in Kenya. African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies, 16(1), 89–104.
Ntuli, H., Jagers, S. C., Linell, A., Sjöstedt, M., & Muchapondwa, E. (2019). Factors influencing local communities’ perceptions towards conservation of transboundary wildlife resources: the case of the Great Limpopo Trans-frontier Conservation Area. Biodiversity and Conservation, 28(11), 2977-3003.
Nyirenda, V. R., Brewis, A., Schuster, R. C., Gegenheimer, C., & Lacy, M. G. (2024). Detecting shared norms as a strategy for sustainable programming: Wildlife crime enforcement versus local community actors in Zambia's protected areas. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability, 7, 100250.
Nyirenda, V. R., Nkhata, B. A., Tembo, O., & Siamundele, S. (2018). Elephant crop damage: subsistence farmers’ social vulnerability, livelihood sustainability and elephant conservation. Sustainability, 10(10), 3572.
Paudel, P. K., Acharya, K. P., Baral, H. S., Heinen, J. T., & Jnawali, S. R. (2020). Trends, patterns, and networks of illicit wildlife trade in Nepal: A national synthesis. Conservation Science and Practice, 2(9), e247.
Prakash, A. S. (2022). Wildlife crime prevention measures undertaken in a protected area: a study among conservation stakeholders in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Western Ghats (India) (Doctoral dissertation, University of Madras (India)).
Ranjan, R. (2019). Shooting at the poachers while the rhinos drown: Managing short‐and long‐term threats to endangered wildlife in conservation reserves. Natural Resource Modeling, 32(1), e12188
Shaw, C. R., & McKay, H. D. (1942). Juvenile delinquency and urban areas.
Travers, H., Archer, L. J., Mwedde, G., Roe, D., Baker, J., Plumptre, A. J., ... & Milner‐Gulland, E. J. (2019). Understanding complex drivers of wildlife crime to design effective conservation interventions. Conservation Biology, 33(6), 1296-1306.
United Nations Office on Drugs. (2024). World wildlife crime report 2024: Trafficking in protected species. Stylus Publishing, LLC.
Viollaz, J. S., Thompson, S. T., & Petrossian, G. A. (2021). When human–wildlife conflict turns deadly: Comparing the situational factors that drive retaliatory leopard killings in South Africa. Animals, 11(11), 3281.
Wilkinson, C. E., et al. (2021). Examining drivers of divergence in recorded and perceived human-carnivore conflict hotspots. Frontiers in Conservation Science, 2, 681769.
Yamane, T. (1973). Statistics: An introductory analysis.
