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Socio-economic and ecological impacts of safari hunting and commercial farming on key stakeholders; Simanjiro District-Tanzania
... Flexibility and mobility of pastoral livestock are essential to the sustainable utilization of the pastoral rangelands of Tarangire ecosystem but are getting increasingly constrained by the expansion of large-scale commercial and extensive but small-scale cultivation and pastoral settlements necessitated by the expanding human population. Sedentarization of the formerly nomadic pastoralists into villages has been associated with intensification of land use, deterioration, fragmentation and loss of key dry-season grazing areas and watering points (Igoe 2000;Kibebe 2005). ...
... The land-use change described by us was not permanent; a large portion of the land under agriculture in 1980 was abandoned in 2000. This might be attributable to the 3-5 years quasi-periodic oscillation in rainfall, because more than 90% of the farming is rainfall dependent (Kibebe 2005). The recurrent droughts preclude permanent cultivation as a sustainable livelihood option, because crop failure is frequent. ...
In this article, we discuss the drivers, causes, and impacts of land-use change in the Maasai Steppe of northern Tanzania. Remote sensing data were used to analyze land-use change, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) was used to link-up with wildlife population dynamics and livestock distribution data derived from aerial censuses. Agriculture increased five fold between 1984 and 2000, while human population increased exponentially from 3.3% p.a. in 1988 to 3.4% p.a. in the same period. Wildlife migratory routes declined from nine in 1964 to five in 2000, out of which three were seriously threatened with blockage by the extensive cultivation. Recurrent droughts and diseases have contributed to the declining livestock economy over the years due to livestock loss and the unpredictable and erratic rainfall has limited their recovery. To reverse the on-going trends in land use, proper land-use plans should be instituted in parallel with community-based wildlife ventures to maintain long-term ecosystem viability.
... However, rangelands have experienced increasing human population pressure and changes in land use due to increasing agriculture and reduced grazing land (Msoffe et al., 2011). The reduction in grazing land has led to overgrazing challenges and losses in native vegetation (Kibebe, 2005). While vegetation and soil type form the fundamental parameters in range management for most herder communities (Oba, 2012), the pollinator aspect as livelihood diversification and vegetation improvement is yet to be considered in rangelands management. ...
Insect pollinators provide numerous ecosystem services that support other living organisms. While pollinators play a large role in cropping systems, little is known about their presence and function in rangeland ecosystems, which have recently become fragmented and overexploited at an extraordinary rate. We assessed local Maasai knowledge on insect pollinators and how pollinators affect livelihood diversification in Simanjiro rangelands, Tanzania. Through questionnaires, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and field observations, we found varied insect knowledge among Maasai herders. Lasioglossum of sub genus Ipomalictus and Syriphidae were the least commonly recognized pollinators as only 24%, and 7% of participants could identify them, respectively. Responses varied significantly between men and women (F = 7.397, p = .007). Commiphora africana, Acacia mellifera and Albizia anthelmintica were noted as most important bee forage plants while observations showed Aspilia mossambicensis, Justicia debile and Acacia tortilis. Most (77%) of Maasai herders showed limited ability to link pollinators and rangeland wellbeing. Beekeeping contributed to livelihood diversification for 61% of respondents, with women participating more frequently than men (χ ² = 46.962, p = .0001). Beekeeping was positively influenced by education level ( R = .421, p < .0001) and occupation ( R = .194, p = .009). Pollinator declines were attributed to climate change (47%), agriculture (37%), and habitat destruction (8%). We conclude that Maasai have limited knowledge of common pollinator groups and their roles. Community outreach and training should bridge the knowledge gap in pastoralist communities to fully realize pollinator benefits and highlight the importance of rangeland health.
... Because large farms ([40 ha) were only occasionally damaged by elephants, the statistical analysis focused on crop-raiding events for small farms (\40 ha) in 2006 and 2008. This farm class boundary was based on expert knowledge (Kibebe 2005). The damaged area and the proportion of the damaged area per farm were calculated to reflect actual and relative losses (Sitati et al. 2005). ...
Crop-raiding elephants affect local livelihoods, undermining conservation efforts. Yet, crop-raiding patterns are poorly understood, making prediction and protection difficult. We hypothesized that raiding elephants use corridors between daytime refuges and farmland. Elephant counts, crop-raiding records, household surveys, Bayesian expert system, and least-cost path simulation were used to predict four alternative categories of daily corridors: (1) footpaths, (2) dry river beds, (3) stepping stones along scattered small farms, and (4) trajectories of shortest distance to refuges. The corridor alignments were compared in terms of their minimum cumulative resistance to elephant movement and related to crop-raiding zones quantified by a kernel density function. The "stepping stone" corridors predicted the crop-raiding patterns. Elephant presence was confirmed along these corridors, demonstrating that small farms located between refuges and contiguous farmland increase habitat connectivity for elephant. Our analysis successfully predicted elephant occurrence in farmland where daytime counts failed to detect nocturnal presence. These results have conservation management implications.
... Reliable and cost-effective monitoring of wildlife populations is becoming increasingly important in the development of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in Tanzania (Nelson & Ole Makko, 2003;Kibebe, 2005). There is also increased interest and debate concerning the decentralization of management of wildlife resources (Gaidet et al., 2006;Nelson, 2007). ...
It is widely accepted that protected areas alone are not sufficient to conserve wildlife populations particularly for migratory or wide-ranging species. In this study, we assess the population density of migratory species in the Tarangire–Simanjiro Ecosystem by conducting a ground census using DISTANCE sampling. We focus on the Simanjiro Plains which are used as a dispersal area by wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) and zebra (Equus burchellii). We demonstrate that DISTANCE sampling can provide precise estimates of population density and is an affordable method for monitoring wildlife populations over time. We stress the importance of involving local communities in monitoring programmes across landscapes that incorporate communal lands as well as protected areas.
On reconnaît généralement que les aires protégées ne suffisent pas, seules, à préserver les populations de faune sauvage, particulièrement celles d’espèces migratrices ou très largement distribuées. Dans cette étude, nous évaluons la densité de population d’espèces migratrices de l’Ecosystème Tarangire-Simanjiro en réalisant un recensement au sol recourant à l’échantillonnage par distance. Nous nous concentrons sur les plaines de Simanjiro qui sont utilisées comme aire de dispersion des gnous Connochaetes taurinus et des zèbres Equus burchellii. Nous montrons que l’échantillonnage par distance peut donner des estimations précises de la densité d’une population et que c’est une méthode accessible pour suivre des populations sauvages dans le temps. Nous soulignons l’importance d’impliquer les communautés locales dans les programmes de suivi, dans des paysages qui intègrent des terres publiques aussi bien que des aires protégées.
Two issues of central importance to conservation are developing an improved understanding of the relative roles of state protected areas and local institutions and developing effective strategies for creating community-based incentives for conservation. We provide a case study of northern Tanzania’s Maasai Steppe to explore these issues in the context of a savannah ecosystem where wildlife is mobile and depends extensively on community lands for seasonal habitats. We compare the impacts and outcomes of four approaches to developing local incentives for wildlife conservation on community lands: protected area benefit-sharing, trophy hunting donations, village–private tourism concession contracts, and a direct payment scheme for habitat conservation. Tourism and direct payment concession areas have resulted in large areas of community land being protected for wildlife by villages as a result of the conditional and contractual nature of these ventures. By contrast, other approaches that provide economic benefits to communities but are not conditional on defined conservation actions at the local level demonstrate little impact on wildlife conservation on community lands. In spatially extensive ecosystems where protected areas cover limited areas and wildlife relies heavily on community and private lands, strategies based on maximizing the direct income of communities from wildlife are fundamental to the sustainability of such systems.
Recent discussions in development have moved away from holistic theorisation towards more localised, empirical and inductive approaches. In development practice there has been a parallel move towards local 'participation' and 'empowerment', which has produced, albeit with very different agendas, a high level of agreement between actors and institutions of the 'new' Left and the 'new' Right. This paper examines the manifestations of this move in four key political arenas: decentralised service delivery, participatory development, social capital formation and local development, and collective actions for 'radical democracy'. We argue that, by focusing so heavily on 'the local', the see manifestations tend to underplay both local inequalities and power relations as well as national and transnational economic and political forces. Following from this, we advocate a stronger emphasis on the politics of the local, ie on the political use of 'the local' by hegemonic and counter-hegemonic interests.
We develop a model of open access wildlife exploitation, habitat conservation and agricultural expansion, which is consistent with rural communities at the fringe of natural habitats in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa. Farmers have the option of either hunting for wildlife or growing crops. The opportunity cost of each activity is the return to the other (economic interdependence), and habitat conversion affects the returns to both activities (ecological interdependence). We show how different patterns of conservation and agricultural expansion may emerge, and that greater conservation may be consistent with higher incomes. We also show that wildlife stocks under open access may be greater than wildlife stocks under a common property (or social planner's) regime.