Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Natural resources – Tanzania – Management'

High pressure on water from competing users has changed the past perception of water as gift to water as a resource that requires sustainable management. Management of water resource needs active stakeholders’ involvement for its sustainability. Many organizations along with the national water policy have been calling for active stakeholders’ involvement for management of the resource.  In Usangu catchment conflicts over accessing water between farmers and pastoralists and between upstream and downstream have been common. Water allocation in the catchment has been done without involving stakeholders and adequate consideration of the rivers’ carrying capacity. This study focuses on stakeholders’ involvement in Usangu catchment. Six villages in three sub-catchments were studied and data were collected using questionnaire through face to face interview and focus group discussion. The study found that there is limited stakeholders’ involvement in Usangu catchment. In some places involvement is at basic stage, in other places there is no involvement. Interaction within stakeholders’ category was documented, while no stakeholders’ interaction between sub-catchments was discovered. Moreover, some challenges for active involvement were noted, such as lack of coordination between institutions operating in the catchment, high illiteracy rate and lack of awareness, and with lack of legislation support. The issue of limited stakeholders’ involvement in Usangu catchment is complicated, there is no single and comprehensive solution; integration of different approaches which are cross-sectoral in nature is needed for sustainable water management.

This paper deals with relationship between irrigation and agriculture and conflicts within an irrigation system and as well between other stakeholders concerning the water. Irrigated lands are up to 2.5 times more productive compared to rain-fed agriculture. They are important element in the agriculture sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, and have been favoured by governments and donor agencies for their high rate of return. Without proper technical equipments or support negative impacts on the environment are linked to irrigation activities. Furthermore, a case study was made in Tanzania, Kiru Valley, regarding the tension between big scale and small-scale farmers as result from the water decline. The results demonstrate that the institutions do not have the power to solve the conflict. It is difficult to define the different stakeholders and the boundaries of the area that affect the amount of water in the valley.

The present study is one of the first attempts to analyze the societal importance of seagrasses (marine flowering plants) from a Natural Resource Management perspective, using a social-ecological systems (SES) approach. The interdisciplinary study takes place in East Africa (Western Indian Ocean, WIO) and includes in-depth studies in Chwaka Bay, Zanzibar, Tanzania. Natural and social sciences methods were used. The results are presented in six articles, showing that seagrass ecosystems are rich in seagrass species (13) and form an important part of the SES within the tropical seascape of the WIO. Seagrasses provide livelihoods opportunities and basic animal protein, in from of seagrass associated fish e.g. Siganidae and Scaridae. Research, management and education initiatives are, however, nearly non-existent. In Chwaka Bay, the goods and ecosystem services associated with the meadows and also appreciated by locals were fishing and collection grounds as well as substrate for seaweed cultivation. Seagrasses are used as medicines and fertilizers and associated with different beliefs and values. Dema (basket trap) fishery showed clear links to seagrass beds and provided the highest gross income per capita of all economic activities. All showing that the meadows provide social-ecological resilience. Drag-net fishery seems to damage the meadows. Two ecological studies show that artisanal seaweed farming of red algae, mainly done by women and pictured as sustainable in the WIO, has a thinning effect on seagrass beds, reduces associated macrofauna, affects sediments, changes fish catch composition and reduces diversity. Furthermore, it has a negative effect on i.a. women’s health. The two last papers are institutional analyses of the human-seagrass relationship. A broad approach was used to analyze regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive institutions. Cooperation and conflict take place between different institutions, interacting with their slow or fast moving characteristics, and are thus fundamental in directing the system into sustainable/unsustainable paths. Ecological knowledge was heterogeneous and situated. Due to the abundance of resources and high internal control, the SES seems to be entangled in a rigidity trap with the risk of falling into a poverty trap. Regulations were found insufficient to understand SES dynamics. “Well” designed organizational structures for management were found insufficient for “good” institutional performance. The dynamics between individuals embedded in different social and cultural structures showed to be crucial. Bwana Dikos, monitoring officials, placed in villages or landing sites in Zanzibar experienced four dilemmas – kinship, loyalty, poverty and control – which decrease efficiency and affect resilience. Mismatches between institutions themselves, and between institutions and cognitive capacities were identified. Some important practical implications are the need to include seagrass meadows in management and educational plans, addressing a seascape perspective, livelihood diversification, subsistence value, impacts, social-ecological resilience, and a broad institutional approach.

Currently, there is a great rampage among conservationists looking for useful approaches that can be used to bring efficiency towards conservation of global natural ecosystems. But which approach can be really effective to halt destruction of a particular natural ecosystem where the local people depend on the same ecosystem resources for their livelihoods? Do the local communities accept to refrain themselves from using natural ecosystem resources (loss of free access), which they believe is under their local territory since they are born, without having alternatives that will replace and improve economic gain of their livelihoods? Are the consumers who benefited from the ecosystem services always willing to compensate local communities around natural ecosystem as a means of replacing what they lose?

This study looks at the reliability of Payment for Water Environmental Services (PWES) approach at Kiwengwa-Pongwe Forest Reserve (KPFR) as a device aimed at promoting the sustainable management of KPFR watershed resources without undermining livelihoods of the Kiwengwa-Pongwe local communities. Hoteliers along the Kiwengwa-Pongwe Tourist Area (KPTA) are the potential customers benefiting from water resources found in the KPFR, which is claimed to be deteriorated by the intensity of the livelihood activities of Kiwengwa-Pongwe (KP) local communities. Based on Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), KPTA hoteliers were asked about the amount they would be willing to pay as maximum (WTP) for improvement of water services through sustainable management of watershed areas in KPFR. On the other hand, KP communities were asked what level of compensation they would be willing to accept as minimum amount (WTA) for a loss of free access to KPFR.

Both hoteliers (75 %) and KP communities (91 %) agreed on the establishment of the PWES system. However, there were differences between amount accepted by KP communities (10 US$ per 200 litres) and the amount claimed to be paid by hoteliers (1US$ per 200 litres), thus giving a gap of 9US$. Based on the overall study findings and experiences from other parts of the world where similar systems have been implemented, this issue is negotiable. It is upon existing KPFR management team and proposed board from Zanzibar water authority to launch a constructive dialogue between stakeholders to reach the amount that can be used as compensation causing no harm to both parts and without compromising the sustainable management of KPFR.

This case study was made in Kiru Valley in the northeast Tanzania in order to study the water management to get a picture of which institutions that are involved, how conflicts are resolved, and also to see if all farmers in the area have an influence in the management. The area consists of big-scale farmers, small-scale farmers with IFAD irrigation scheme and small-scale farmers without irrigation scheme. The irrigation scheme was built in 2004 in the villages Mawemairo and Matufa. Mapea village is located downstream and has got less water after the scheme was built. The case study was conducted by semi-structured interviews with some officials at different institutions in the District, Mawemairo and Mapea and also with some farmers in Mawemairo. The results were mainly analysed with Integrated Water Resources Management approach which have been adapted by Tanzania government. Mawemairo and Matufa have established a Water Users Association (WUA) and the water management seems to work quite good for those who are members of this. But those farmers who are not members of a WUA seem to be outside of the management of the rivers in Kiru Valley. What is missing is a platform where all relevant stakeholders in Kiru Valley, like farmers, can participate in the decision-making and where conflicts can be resolved.

Human-wildlife interactions play an important role in shaping perceptions and conservation paradigms and the livelihoods in villages neighbouring protected areas. These interactions also determine the future survival of the wildlife in the face of increasing pressure due to high human population increase characterising most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Most rural people in sub-Saharan Africa are agropastoral, combining small scale farming with animal husbandry, or they are purely agropastoralists or farming who relies on natural resources for sustenance.

The negative impacts from wildlife to humans may include crop damage, attacking and killing livestock and humans, competing for game species or acting as diseases reservoirs. Humans may affect wildlife through a wide range of lethal methods such as shooting, poisoning, trapping or snaring, habitat modification, encroachment or diseases exchange between wildlife and livestock.

Illegal hunting using traditional weapons is wide spread in communities surrounding areas rich of wildlife where in some countries in Africa (i.e. Liberia) up to 75% meat protein is derived from wildlife. The main factors attributing to high consumption of bushmeat is local availability, easy catch-ability (wire snares, pitfall traps), affordability and the consequent household savings.

This thesis evaluates the conflicts between human and wildlife in the human-wildlife interface using the western Serengeti as a case study. The first part of the thesis focuses on the conflict related to utilization of natural resources and livestock depredation whereas the second part focuses on the dietary contribution of bushmeat to local people, bushmeat experience and utilization. Local people living close to protected areas are rational when it comes to the illegal utilization of natural resources because they consider the benefits and costimplications. The bushmeat hunters, especially, know in advance which areas in the protected areas are profitable at the same time consider the cost of being arrested and the distance they need to walk to the profitable areas. While illegal hunting can take place far in the park, livestock keepers avoid grazing inside the park because they know the consequences (penalties and fines) of utilizing the pasture inside the protected areas illegally.

The local people living close to protected areas consume more meat meals during the period when the wildebeest are in the village proximities than when the herds are far in the southern plains. This further proves the rationality of illegal bushmeat hunters when planning for hunting trips (the benefits versus cost). In contrast, the fish meals in the villages located close to protected areas but far from Lake Victoria decrease with influx of migratory herbivores, which suggest that fish and meat complement each other when the distance from the sources fluctuates. This was proved true when test-persons from villages close, intermediate and distant from the nearest national park boundary were given pieces of meat in a combination of wild ungulates and beef to rank the meat and species recognition according to the perceived taste. While the test-persons from distant villages preferred beef to all, the test-person from villages close to national park boundary prefer topi and those in the intermediate villages prefer impala. This suggests long term experience with beef to distant test-persons as no other source of meat is locally available in the area other than livestock meat and fish.

Wild carnivores are considered to be responsible for livestock losses in the villages surrounding the protected areas. The results from the current study in the villages surrounding the western Serengeti show that among the wild carnivores reported to kill livestock, 97.7% of all reported claims was spotted hyena, being responsible for 98.2%.

Spotted hyenas are nocturnal animals capable of commuting up to 80 km from their territory areas and are the most numerous large carnivore species in the Serengeti ecosystem, mainly targeting goats and sheep. To evaluate the level of conflicts between carnivores and human on livestock depredation, enumeration of livestock loss causes was conducted for subsequent comparison. In all villages, diseases were responsible for major loss of livestock.

Based on the findings the current study recommends better education on wildlife conservation, livestock husbandry practices and extension. A change in wildlife policy in favour of compensation would reduce the retaliatory killing of carnivores in the villages. Livestock keepers should improve the night holding enclosures to reduce livestock depredation by nocturnal predators. The findings recommend further study on the alternative sources of meat protein to local communities living close to protected areas. Last but not least, I recommend a special conservation attention to resident herbivore population close to village proximities.

ESSIC, JEFFERSON FORREST. Applications of Geographic InformationSystems for Growth Management Planning and Water Quality Protection inthe Coastal Region of North Carolina. (Under the direction of Hugh A. Devine.)

Research efforts conducted in coastal areas of North Carolina andother regions have documented numerous examples of negative impacts toestuarine water quality as a result of unplanned and unmanaged development.However, new construction is continuing at a rapid pace in these areas,forcing local planners to make complex decisions regarding land uses andprotection of cultural and natural resources.

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer-driven toolthat has proven valuable in assisting with this decision making process.GIS technology provides the means to efficiently collect, store, and retrievevast amounts of spatial data. Then, this information may be visually displayedin a manner that supports better understanding and analysis of the physicalenvironment and the potential impacts of growth.

There have been many instances during the past decade in whichGIS has been used to meet the educational and informational needs of citizensand local officials who want to ensure a strong economy and healthy environmentis planned for the future of their community. Most of these projects haveoriginated at the state level, either through the North Carolina CooperativeExtension Service, or other agencies.

A number of zoning options and growth management planning measureshave recently been recommended that coastal government officials shouldconsider for promoting stewardship and protecting important natural resourceswhile continuing to maintain economic vitality. This paper focuses on theapplication of GIS for analyzing and implementing many of those strategieswith emphasis on local responsibility.

In particular, the natural suitability of cluster development forCurrituck County, North Carolina, is examined with GIS. Attention to growthmanagement planning in this coastal county is critical since the populationis projected to increase over 73 percent from 1990 to 2020. GIS data layersfrom the North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis,as well as digitized Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood InsuranceRate Maps, are used to determine the extent of Primary Conservation Areasin the county. In addition, Secondary Conservation Areas are identified