Serengeti National Park and its neighbours – Do they interact?

Summary Community-based management of protected areas has become a strong political objective worldwide. Many African countries have responded to this challenge, albeit with mixed results. Tanzania which is known for its abundant populations of wildlife in national parks has also developed several projects and institutions to improve people–park relationships. So far however, there is little evidence that community-based programmes have had any significant effect on management strategies, benefit distribution, or alleviating poverty. In this paper, we examine a part of this complex in the Western Corridor of Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. We address the basic questions of what is the extent of contact between park staff and the communities, what benefits are provided, and what needs do the communities see? There is little interaction between the park and adjacent communities, and while support is given to community projects, minimal benefits are distributed to the household or individual level. The current situation seems incapable of facilitating improved people–park relationships.

[1]  Heribert Hofer,et al.  MODELING THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE ECONOMIC COSTS AND BENEFITS OF ILLEGAL GAME MEAT HUNTING IN THE SERENGETI , 2000 .

[2]  D. Hulme,et al.  If community conservation is the answer in Africa, what is the question? , 2001, Oryx.

[3]  Heribert Hofer,et al.  Bushmeat hunting by communities adjacent to the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania: the importance of livestock ownership and alternative sources of protein and income , 2002, Environmental Conservation.

[4]  A. Newton.  Dynamics of Tropical Communities , 1999 .

[5]  E. Røskaft,et al.  'Serengeti shall not die': Can the ambition be sustained? , 2005 .

[6]  P. Mbile,et al.  Linking management and livelihood in environmental conservation: case of the Korup National Park Cameroon. , 2005, Journal of environmental management.

[7]  J. Hough.  Obstacles to Effective Management of Conflicts Between National Parks and Surrounding Human Communities in Developing Countries , 1988, Environmental Conservation.

[8]  P. Alpert.  Integrated Conservation and Development Projects Examples from Africa , 1996 .

[9]  W. Adams,et al.  Back to the Barriers? Changing Narratives in Biodiversity Conservation , 2005 .

[10]  R. Neumann.  LOCAL CHALLENGES TO GLOBAL AGENDAS: CONSERVATION, ECONOMIC LIBERALIZATION AND THE PASTORALISTS' RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN TANZANIA , 1995 .

[11]  P. Virtanen.  Local Management of Global Values: Community-Based Wildlife Management in Zimbabwe and Zambia , 2003 .

[12]  Webster Whande.  Community-based natural resource management in the southern Africa region : an annotated bibliography and general overview of literature, 1996-2004 , 2007 .

[13]  D. Hulme,et al.  African wildlife and livelihoods: the promise and performance of community conservation. , 2001 .

[14]  Does Resource Commercialization Induce Local Conservation? A Cautionary Tale From Southwestern Morocco , 2004 .

[15]  R. Neumann.  Primitive Ideas: Protected Area Buffer Zones and the Politics of Land in Africa , 1997 .

[16]  J. Leeuw,et al.  Population trends of large non‐migratory wild herbivores and livestock in the Masai Mara ecosystem, Kenya, between 1977 and 1997 , 2000 .

[17]  A. Songorwa,et al.  Community-Based Wildlife Management (CWM) in Tanzania: Are the Communities Interested? , 1999 .

[18]  Reed L. Wadley,et al.  Local land use strategies in a globalizing world: Subsistence farming, cash crops and income diversification , 2005 .

[19]  P. Walker,et al.  Collaboration Derailed: The Politics of “Community-Based” Resource Management in Nevada County , 2004 .

[20]  E. Røskaft,et al.  Uneconomical game cropping in a community-based conservation project outside the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania , 2002, Oryx.

[21]  L. Emerton,et al.  Making wildlife economically viable for communities living around the western Serengeti, Tanzania , 1999 .

[22]  R. Hilborn,et al.  Limits to exploitation of Serengeti wildebeest and implications for its management. , 1998 .

[23]  A. Agrawal,et al.  Enchantment and Disenchantment: The Role of Community in Natural Resource Conservation , 1999 .

[24]  T. Li.  Engaging Simplifications: Community-Based Resource Management, Market Processes and State Agendas in Upland Southeast Asia , 2002 .

[25]  J. Mehta,et al.  Does Community-Based Conservation Shape Favorable Attitudes Among Locals? An Empirical Study from Nepal , 2001, Environmental management.

[26]  B. P. Kaltenborn,et al.  The nature of hunting around the Western Corridor of Serengeti National Park, Tanzania , 2005, European Journal of Wildlife Research.

[27]  E. Lambin,et al.  Impact of land‐use changes on the wildebeest migration in the northern part of the Serengeti–Mara ecosystem , 2001 .

[28]  B. Child.  The practice and principles of community-based wildlife management in Zimbabwe: the CAMPFIRE programme , 1996, Biodiversity & Conservation.

[29]  Marcella J. Kelly,et al.  Ocelot Leopardus pardalis in Belize: the impact of trap spacing and distance moved on density estimates , 2007, Oryx.

[30]  D. B. Dalal-Clayton,et al.  Whose Eden ? : an overview of community approaches to wildlife management , 1994 .

[31]  E. F. Lambin,et al.  Long-term changes in Serengeti-Mara wildebeest and land cover: Pastoralism, population, or policies? , 2001, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[32]  K. Campbell,et al.  Sustainable use of wildland resources, ecological, economic and social interactions: an analysis of illegal hunting of wildlife in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Final Technical Report. , 2001 .

[33]  A. Orr,et al.  Adapting to Adjustment: Smallholder Livelihood Strategies in Southern Malawi , 2001 .

[34]  P. Davidar,et al.  Do developmental initiatives influence local attitudes toward conservation? A case study from the Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, India. , 2006, Journal of environmental management.

[35]  Peter Arcese,et al.  Serengeti II : dynamics, management, and conservation of an ecosystem , 1996 .

[36]  S. Nepal.  Involving Indigenous Peoples in Protected Area Management: Comparative Perspectives from Nepal, Thailand, and China , 2002, Environmental management.

[37]  Todd Bryan,et al.  Tragedy Averted: The Promise of Collaboration , 2004 .

[38]  Alexander Conley,et al.  Evaluating Collaborative Natural ResourceManagement , 2003 .