Serengeti General Management Plan

Serengeti National Park General Management Plan
Ecosystem management strategy
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Programme Purpose: The Serengeti’s key ecological systems,
communities and species monitored, assessed, and appropriate
management responses taken to mitigate human impacts and to ensure
that resource values are not impaired 1
The ecosystem management strategy seeks to align the long-term management of the
SENAPA ecosystem with the programme purpose defined above and with the relevant national
policies. The aim of this strategy is to provide a general statement of principles and
policy to guide the ecosystem management programme over the next 10 years.
The principal national policy instruments that the SENAPA ecosystem management strategy
has been based upon are the National Policies for National Parks in Tanzania (1994) and the
Wildlife Policy of Tanzania (1998). The strategy also builds on the previously approved
SENAPA Management Plans (1991 and 1996), so as to ensure continuity where appropriate
and to account for the specific context and management needs of the Serengeti ecosystem.
There are five general guiding principles, drawn from national policy, that provide the foundation
for this Ecosystem Management Programme:
� SENAPA management will work to maintain all components and processes of the
naturally evolving Park ecosystem, including the natural abundance, diversity, and
ecological integrity of plants and animals
� Change is recognised as an integral part of the functioning of the Serengeti and
natural systems in natural zones will not be preserved as though frozen at a given point
in time
� Although a non-intervention policy will be pursued in general, interference with natural
processes may occur to maintain wildlife and plant species diversity, to preserve sensitive
species [and] to restore native ecosystem functioning that has been disrupted by
past or ongoing human activities
� SENAPA management will influence the surrounding communities, local and district governments,
and other agencies to help ensure that activities occurring outside the
Park do not impair park resources and values, especially through District planning forums
� Research and monitoring will provide an accurate scientific basis for planning, development
and management decisions in pursuit of park objectives.
Conserving ecosystem processes
In line with TANAPA policy, the Ecosystem Management Programme will seek to minimise
human impacts on natural wildlife population dynamics. In particular, this will involve ensuring
the preservation of the migratory wildlife (especially ungulates) and their habitats inside
the Park, and initiating cooperation wherever possible with others to ensure the preservation
of their populations, preferred migration routes and habitats outside the Park.
1 “Impair” – this term is defined by TANAPA as to deteriorate, to damage, or to injure natural and physical resources
(e.g. wildlife and geologic features) as well as intangible values (e.g. wilderness character and scenic
vistas)