Kenya launched a 10-year fund to care for wild land in 31 counties

Mongabay reported on November 6, 2026, that Kenya has launched Thamani Asili, a Swahili name meaning "value of nature." Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano announced the 10-year program at Tsavo West National Park on October 21. It brings together the government, the Kenya Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy, Enduring Earth, and other partners. The plan is $160 million, with $80 million from the government that philanthropic partners are expected to match.

The program targets 17.3 million hectares of existing conservation areas and community-managed land in 31 of Kenya's 47 counties. It also aims to establish about 2.7 million hectares of new conserved areas. The government projects benefits for 1.6 million people and nearly 22,800 jobs, about 7,800 of them direct and 15,000 indirect, in work such as ecotourism and sustainable grazing. The first landscapes are Tsavo and the coast, northern Kenya, the Rift Valley and the west, and the south. Mongabay noted that about 13 percent of Kenya's land and less than 1 percent of its sea are currently protected.

Those hectares, jobs, and people are the aims of the financing plan. They are not a count of land already restored or paychecks already issued. The news is the launch of a long-term fund, with Tsavo West as the place it was announced.