Frontier Tanzania Environmental Research - Frontier-publications ...

5. Trophy Hunting and Local Communities5.1 SummaryTrophy hunting is becoming increasingly accepted as a conservation tool due to thevast amount of land that can be conserved by the industry, large revenues generatedand potential benefits to local communities. Within the Kilombero Valley of centralsouthernTanzania in the Districts of Kilombero and Ulanga, the Kilombero GameControlled Area hosts four concessions operated by two hunting outfitters. A thirdoutfitter is based to the south of the Ulanga District. Between August and December2007 structured interviews were conducted within 24 villages in the region, gatheringinformation from 360 village residents aimed to determine the impact that the huntingcompanies has on their livelihoods. Local communities are thought to be able tobenefit financially from trophy hunting, and to be given opportunities of employment,in addition to gains from infrastructure development and the provision of meat.Evidence of these types of benefits was limited within the Kilombero, with only 15%of respondents feeling that they received benefits. Only eight people had beenemployed by a hunting company. Problems associated with the presence of theoutfitters were extensive, ranging from physical abuse to increases in crop damageand controversy over boundaries. While it is evident that there are benefits to begained from trophy hunting, it would appear that much of these benefits are notreaching the residents sufficiently. Greater communication is required between thehunting companies and the villagers. It is also necessary to clarify the benefits thatare given, and to provide education to illustrate the activities of the hunting companies.It would be helpful to attempt to provide benefits on an individual basis, in terms ofemployment and the provision of bushmeat. A useful step would be for the companiesto act directly with the villagers, rather than contributing purely to central government,who then provide money to District Councils for allocation.Trophy hunting can benefit local communities; however effort is required to improvethis service and to encourage satisfactory relationships between hunting companiesand local communities.5.2 The impact of trophy hunting on local communities5.2.1 IntroductionThe 21 st century has brought new challenges to conservation programmes, as thepressures upon wildlife areas no longer support previous preservationist methods ofconservation. The new conservation paradigm involves local communities directly inconservation efforts, so that they benefit directly from wildlife, providing an incentiveto maintain wildlife areas and populations in the face of competition from populationgrowth, industrialisation, agricultural expansion (Baker, 1997b). One of the majortransformations of conservation is the move to the utilisation of wildlife, advocated byArticle 1 of the 1993 United Nations Convention on Biodiversity (UNCBD, 1993).47