Lions on the Brink
Since the 1990’s half of the African lions, one of the world’s most iconic species, have been lost – if trends continue, free-roaming African lions will disappear from the wild, perhaps in our lifetimes.
There are many factors that have contributed to the significant decline of African lions, but retaliatory killing of lions is one of the main drivers behind the rapid decrease. As human populations in Africa rise, lions routinely come into direct conflict with people over increasingly limited resources. Every year conflicts intensify due to the continuing depletion of wild prey, habitat loss and poor livestock management, further threatening the future survival of the African lion. There is an urgent need to advance practical solutions that reverse the significant decline of African lions
About Lion Guardians
Lion Guardians is a conservation organization that promotes the coexistence of people and lions in Africa. Founded in 2007, Lion Guardians through its community-based conservation efforts has trained and supported communities in six different countries to successfully protect lions across the continent. In the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem of southern Kenya, we are proud to have one of the continent’s only free-roaming and growing lion populations. . By empowering warriors who once killed lions and working closely with communities, Lion Guardians proactively minimizes conflict and enables coexistence.
Our innovative approach has reduced lion killing by more than 90%; we have documented a tripling of the lion population in Amboseli and improved connectivity between the Ngorongoro and Serengeti lion populations in Tanzania. We are committed to workable solutions that are scientifically-driven, and we believe the fate of the lion lies in the hands of the people who live with them.
Lion Guardians is a cost-effective, stream-lined operation that achieves these impacts for under one million dollars a year.
The Lion Guardians Model
Wildlife conservation has traditionally focused on wildlife, not people. At Lion Guardians, we take the opposite approach. For almost a decade, we have worked with local communities to protect lions and improve both community conservation by blending traditional knowledge and culture with science.
We believe that the communities who bear the costs of living with wildlife should have a strong role in the development and management of wildlife conservation on their lands.
Lion Guardians’ conservation model is adaptable to various cultures and wildlife species. Founded on local value systems, community participation and science, it is based on a decade of research and rigorous measures of success. Our approach involves recruiting young, not formally educated Maasai and other pastoralist warriors to learn the skills needed to effectively mitigate conflicts between people and wildlife, monitor lion populations, and help their own communities live with lions. By actively engaging in our solutions-based conservation model, people who were once lion killers are transformed into lion protectors.
How to Support/Help Lion Guardians
- $25 you can provide a mobile phone that a Guardian can use to call in reports
- $110 you can equip a Guardian with a GPS unit
- $500 you can provide for a vehicle’s fuel, maintenance and repair for one month
- $1000 you can provide a projector, generator and screen for showing environmental education films in the community
- $1,200 you can equip the Lion Guardians team with a telemetry receiver to communicate with a lion collar
- $1,500 you can sponsor a Lion Guardian’s salary for one year
- $10,000 will support a dedicated Guardian team that mitigates conflict caused specifically by chronic problem lions