Serengeti General Management Plan
Serengeti General Management Plan
Serengeti General Management Plan
- TAGS
- serengeti
- www.zgf.de
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
E. Community Outreach Programme<br />
Good relations between SENAPA and local communities/ government<br />
SENAPA is intricately linked and affected by the human activities and land-uses occurring on<br />
its boundaries and vice versa. Poor park-community relationships in the past have both initiated<br />
and led to the escalation of conflicts over access to land and natural resources. Therefore<br />
SENAPA management will develop and elaborate mechanisms to promote dialogue and<br />
improve communication with local communities and government in order to enable conflicts<br />
to be amicably resolved and to develop modes of cooperation for mutual benefit.<br />
Benefits sharing with local communities<br />
SENAPA management recognises that park-adjacent communities bear direct and indirect<br />
costs of wildlife conservation; both through human-wildlife conflicts and the loss of access to<br />
land and natural resources. If these costs are not in part compensated, then the necessary<br />
community support for conservation will not be sustainable.<br />
Consequently, SENAPA management will ensure that surrounding communities are receiving<br />
benefits from the Park to help counter the costs they incur, and increase community support<br />
for the continued conservation of the <strong>Serengeti</strong>. This is in line with national policy, which<br />
states, ‘TANAPA will seek ways to share the benefits of conservation with local communities<br />
in ways that are sustainable and promote sound development’ (TANAPA, 1994).<br />
Conservation and environmental education<br />
Conflict and disputes between SENAPA and adjacent communities have often arisen from<br />
misunderstandings and a lack of communication about park regulations and boundaries. This<br />
lack of knowledge results in communities feeling distrustful of the Park, disempowered and<br />
unsure of their rights. To address these issues, SENAPA management will raise conservation<br />
awareness in the surrounding communities, and in particular clarify the rules, regulations<br />
and boundaries of the Park, through a well-structured education programme.<br />
Community-based natural resource management initiatives<br />
The sharing of park benefits with communities will be complemented by efforts by SENAPA<br />
management to improve land use and livelihood strategies surrounding the Park, in order to<br />
reduce their negative impacts on SENAPA natural resources, and increase the conservation<br />
compatibility of neighbouring land uses.<br />
The guiding principles of the above strategy provide the basis for the two objectives of the<br />
Community Outreach Programme that define the future desirable state at SENAPA and address<br />
the relevant problems and issues facing SENAPA management. The two objectives<br />
are:<br />
1. Neighbouring community and local government support for conservation strengthened<br />
2. Threats to SENAPA resource values reduced through improved community natural<br />
resource management in buffer areas<br />
In order to meet these objectives for the Community Outreach Programme, a series of 10year<br />
management targets, with accompanying management actions, have been formulated,<br />
as described in the following sections. For each management target there is a brief de-<br />
81