Kenya’s Sh20.8 billion Conservation Deal: How the Thamani Asili Programme Will Work

Cabinet Secretary for Tourism and Wildlife Rebecca Miano launched the Thamani Asili initiative on October 21, 2026, alongside The Nature Conservancy and Enduring Earth, two organisations involved in conservation and long-term environmental financing.

The programme aims to mobilize US$160 million, equivalent to approximately KSh20.8 billion at an exchange rate of Sh130 to the dollar.

Philanthropic donors are expected to contribute US$80 million, with the Kenyan government committing an equivalent amount over ten years.

The plan uses a model known as Project Finance for Permanence (PFP).

Rather than relying on short-term conservation grants, the model brings together long-term funding and government commitments to agreed policy and implementation measures.

In practical terms, the financing is intended to support conservation over a sustained period, while linking the programme's progress to commitments made by the government and other partners.

Four landscapes in focus

Thamani Asili will initially focus on four priority landscapes: Tsavo to Coastal, Greater Ewaso, Greater Rift to Western, and Southern Kenya.

These areas include important wildlife habitats, water systems and community lands.

Tsavo, for instance, supports large elephant populations and critically endangered black rhinos, while landscapes connecting Kenya and Tanzania include the Maasai Mara–Serengeti ecosystem.

The programme's geographical reach is broader than national parks alone.

It is designed to support existing conservation areas, establish additional conserved areas and help communities manage land and natural resources more sustainably.

Over the next decade, the initiative aims to help conserve 17.3 million hectares.

Its stated targets include establishing approximately 2.7 million hectares of conserved areas, improving management across 11 million hectares of existing conservation areas and enabling communities to manage another six million hectares more effectively.

These are programme targets covering different conservation activities, not a claim that all the land will become newly designated national parks.

What communities stand to gain

A central promise of the initiative is that conservation should also improve the livelihoods of people living near wildlife.

The programme identifies ecological tourism, sustainable grazing, carbon-related projects and other nature-based businesses as potential sources of household income.

Improved livestock protection and land management are also intended to help reduce conflict between communities and wildlife.

The government estimates that approximately 1.6 million people could benefit directly, with another 3.9 million potentially benefiting through improvements in land governance, natural-resource management and economic opportunities.

The programme projects around 7,800 direct jobs and 15,000 indirect jobs across the supported landscapes.

Those figures are expected outcomes, not jobs already created.

For communities that lose crops, livestock or access to land through human-wildlife conflict, the question will be whether the funding produces tangible benefits alongside the demands of conservation.

Who will manage the money?

The initiative will be administered through the newly established Thamani Asili Fund for Kenya, an independent conservation trust fund intended to manage and disburse donor financing and track programme progress.

Its performance will depend on the transparency of funding decisions, the way projects are selected, and whether government commitments and conservation results can be independently monitored.

The initiative also supports Kenya's ambition to conserve 30 per cent of its lands, inland waters and near-shore ecosystems.

It is expected to contribute to climate goals, including a projected avoidance of 7.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2035.

From financing to results

Kenya's wildlife, forests, rangelands and water systems support tourism, agriculture and other parts of the economy.

Their protection therefore has implications well beyond wildlife viewing.

Thamani Asili brings a substantial funding commitment to that task, but its success will depend on how the money is deployed, whether communities participate meaningfully and whether conservation conditions improve across the targeted landscapes.