University of Oxford
11a Mansfield Rd
OX1 3SZ
UK
Leventis African Biodiversity Fellow 2026
Fredrick Kioko Kilonzo
Background
I grew up in Kajiado County in southern Kenya, in a Maasai community where the relationship between people and wildlife is not an abstract conservation concept but a lived reality passed down through generations. My grandmother Kokoo Nasirian was among my earliest teachers, sharing traditional ecological knowledge long before I had words like "biodiversity" to describe what she was showing me. That foundation shaped everything that followed.
I founded Naturehub Collective Community Organisation in 2018, driven by a simple conviction: that the communities living closest to nature are best placed to protect it. What began as a small initiative has grown into a multi-landscape conservation organisation operating across coastal Kilifi, the Taita Hills, Laikipia, Kajiado County, and Mount Kenya, with over 30 funding partnerships across 12 countries.
Naturehub's core niche is marine conservation and mangrove ecosystem restoration. We work hand in hand with coastal communities — particularly the Kidongo Women's Group at Mtwapa Creek — as the primary conservation agents, not as beneficiaries of externally designed programmes. Over 500,000 mangroves have been planted under their stewardship.
Being here at Oxford still feels surreal. This institution has represented a distant dream for so many young Kenyans and Africans who grew up seeing it from afar. Coming from my background, I never imagined I would one day walk these halls. I carry that with gratitude and responsibility — everything I learn here, I intend to bring home.
I founded Naturehub Collective Community Organisation in 2018, driven by a simple conviction: that the communities living closest to nature are best placed to protect it. What began as a small initiative has grown into a multi-landscape conservation organisation operating across coastal Kilifi, the Taita Hills, Laikipia, Kajiado County, and Mount Kenya, with over 30 funding partnerships across 12 countries.
Naturehub's core niche is marine conservation and mangrove ecosystem restoration. We work hand in hand with coastal communities — particularly the Kidongo Women's Group at Mtwapa Creek — as the primary conservation agents, not as beneficiaries of externally designed programmes. Over 500,000 mangroves have been planted under their stewardship.
Being here at Oxford still feels surreal. This institution has represented a distant dream for so many young Kenyans and Africans who grew up seeing it from afar. Coming from my background, I never imagined I would one day walk these halls. I carry that with gratitude and responsibility — everything I learn here, I intend to bring home.
Research Interests
My core research interest lies at the intersection of community-based conservation, biodiversity monitoring technology, and conservation enterprise development. I am particularly drawn to the question of how conservation science can be genuinely led by the communities who live within biodiversity-rich landscapes — not as passive beneficiaries, but as the primary architects of conservation outcomes.
Naturehub’s work at Mtwapa Creek showed me firsthand how traditional resource management knowledge, combined with scientific monitoring frameworks and sustainable enterprise models, can produce conservation outcomes that neither the community nor external researchers could achieve alone. The Mangrove Gold beekeeping model — where 15 women have achieved a fivefold increase in household income while leading ecosystem restoration — is a living proof of concept for this approach.
I am also deeply interested in how digital technology can democratise conservation monitoring. This led me to develop Mazingira360, an open-source geospatial platform enabling community field teams to collect real-time GPS-tagged biodiversity data and report transparently to funders — making community-generated data credible and actionable at an institutional level.
Fellowship Goals
During my fellowship at ICCS, I am working to strengthen the scientific and methodological foundations underpinning Naturehub’s field programmes across five Kenyan landscapes. My focus spans three interconnected areas.
First, I am developing evidence-based frameworks for community-led mangrove ecosystem restoration at Mtwapa Creek, where Naturehub has planted over 500,000 mangroves across seven planting polygons covering three species — Rhizophora mucronata, Avicennia marina, and Sonneratia alba — achieving a 97% seedling survival rate in partnership with the Kidongo Women’s Group. I am working to translate this field data into publishable, peer-reviewed research and replicable models for coastal East Africa.
Second, I am advancing Naturehub’s critically endangered species conservation work in the Taita Hills Key Biodiversity Area, covering the Taita Apalis (Apalis fuscigularis, 132 individuals banded representing approximately 68% of the estimated global population), the Taita Hills Warty Frog (Callulina dawida), and the Taita Thrush, as well as seabird and wading bird conservation along the Kenyan coast and at Lake Victoria.
Third, I am developing Mazingira360 as a scientifically validated conservation monitoring platform, exploring how community-generated biodiversity data can be integrated into institutional research frameworks and used to support conservation decision-making at scale.
Brief CV
- Founded Naturehub Collective Community Organisation in 2018, initially focusing on wildlife conservation and community engagement in Kajiado County, Kenya.
- Served as Founder and Species & Sites Programme Manager of Naturehub Collective, overseeing conservation programmes across five landscapes: coastal Kenya, Taita Hills, Laikipia, Kajiado County, and Mount Kenya (2018–present).
- Developed and launched the Mtwapa Creek Mangrove Revival Programme in partnership with the Kidongo Women’s Group, growing into Naturehub’s flagship marine conservation initiative with over 500,000 mangroves planted (2020–present).
- Developed and launched Mazingira360, an open-source geospatial biodiversity monitoring platform enabling real-time community-generated field data collection and transparent funder reporting (2024–2025).
- Recipient of multiple international conservation awards including the TIAW World of Difference Award (2025), Marion Paviour Award — Hawk Conservancy Trust (2024), Commonwealth Youth Awards Africa Regional Finalist SDG 15 (2025), and Bow Seat True Blue Fellowship (2025).
- Appointed A.G. Leventis African Biodiversity Fellow at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science, University of Oxford (2026).
Publications
Kilonzo, F.K. & Kilonzo, J.M. (2026). Community-led conservation for the Taita Hills Warty Frog: Save The Frogs Day 2026 in Kenya. AmphiBios, Issue 2.
In preparation: Kilonzo F.K.Community-based conservation approaches for endemic species in Taita Hills Key Biodiversity Area, Kenya. Target journal: Journal of East African Natural History.
Conference presentations: 17th Annual Save The Frogs Day Global Online Event (April 2025): Amphibian Conservation in Taita Hills, Kenya.
Technical reports submitted to: Sophie Danforth Conservation Biology Fund, Auckland Zoo Conservation Fund, Greenville Zoo, Hawk Conservancy Trust, Conservation Nation, Ceiba Foundation, GiftTrees UK, Zoo Miami, CBOT/Brookfield Zoo Chicago, SAVE THE FROGS!, and YLACES.
Links
Naturehub Collective: https://naturehubcollective.org
Mazingira360: https://mazingira360.com
Conservation Nation — Fredrick Kioko Kilonzo: https://conservationnation.org/fredrick-kiokokilonzo/
GiftTrees UK — NatureHub Partnership 2026: https://www.gifttrees.com/blogs/post/gifttrees-partners-with-naturehub-collective-for-2026-empowering-women-to-restore-kenya-s-mangroves
SAVE THE FROGS! — Save The Frogs Day 2026 Kenya Taita Hills: https://savethefrogs.com/day-2026-kenya-taita-hills/