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In 2019, the One Mara Research Hub held two consultative meetings that
brought together the stakeholders.

Fencing in the Mara: A meeting of minds. In June, the Hub hosted 61
researchers and conservationists from 29 institutions, representing eight

countries with an interest in the increased fencing across the Mara. The drivers
and resulting impacts of fencing in the Mara were discussed in length and at
the end, there was a proposal for the development of a policy brief providing
recommendations on how to address the negative impacts of fencing on the
ecosystem.

Narok County spatial plan meeting. In November, the Research Hub hosted
a researchers’ workshop which brought together representatives from the
county and national government, key researchers and community members.

The workshop participants agreed to share datasets as well as support the
technical team working on the Narok County Spatial Plan. A County Spatial
Plan in a 10-year land-use plan that is legally binding and can prove to be a
critical tool towards enhanced conservation and environmental protection. The
researcher’s workshop was followed by a stakeholder engagement meeting

which brought together 30 participants from 20 organizations. The aim of the
stakeholder engagement meeting was to gather views on the best interventions
for conservation of the GME as relates to land-use planning as well as to build

awareness of the Hub and its activities in the ecosystem.

Next steps for the One Mara Research Hub
In order to efficiently communicate with researchers and other stakeholders

from the ecosystem and beyond, the One Mara Research Hub in collaboration
with ESRI, the world’s leading Geo-Information System’s software company, will
develop a portal (ArcGIS Hub) that will allow researchers to centrally collate,

share and disseminate their data and research findings. The ArcGIS Hub will also
allow researchers to build custom data collection applications.

KENYA WILDLIFE TRUST ANNUAL REPORT 2019 23