Tanzania’s policy for Wildlife Management Areas revisited

Almost two decades after Tanzania’s policy on Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) – now called Community Wildlife Management Areas (CWMAs) – was adopted, the policy brief “Realising the promise of Tanzania’s Wildlife Management Areas” (2017, 4pp) revisits the aims and examines the achievements. CWMAs were meant to increase participation of local (agropastoralist) communities in managing wildlife and bring benefits to the communities, wildlife and the environment. The brief focuses on the results of a multidisciplinary evaluation of CWMAs made in 2013–16 by the Poverty and ecosystem Impacts of Payments for wildlife conservation initiatives in Africa (PIMA) project.

It was found that CWMAs have been characterised by land conflict, wildlife damage to people and crops, lack of tourism potential and high administration costs. Most CWMAs are not financially viable. Rethinking the division of CWMA revenues could make them more financially and socially viable. Giving communities sustainable access to key natural resources in the CWMAs would benefit rural livelihood security and reduce the potential for conflict. Revenue sharing between CWMA villages should be based on negotiations between the villages, considering costs borne related to human–wildlife conflict, tourism investments and land surrendered to the CWMA. Fair and transparent consultation and planning for new CWMAs would improve the likelihood of community buy-in. Empowering villages to make changes to CWMA plans would make CWMAs more legitimate and sustainable.

Very similar conclusions were drawn by the “Tanzania Wildlife Management Areas Evaluation” (132pp) published by USAID in 2013.

 

Posted on 22 February 2018 in Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralist Livelihoods & Nutrition