While the last several days on Zanzibar have been exciting and full of adventure, they have also been very educational. In addition to the wealth of knowledge provided by Dr. Beymer-Farris and Dr. Bryceson, we have had many opportunities to see conservation efforts along the coast of Tanzania first hand. From marine parks to protected mangrove forests, we have Tanzania has made a concerted effort to protect its natural marine resources. Unfortunately, however, we haven’t been able to talk much about the social effects of conservation, a hot topic in the conservation world.
Throughout Tanzania wildlife and plant life abound. The Serengeti holds a plethora of savanna biota, including the famed last great wildebeest migration; East Africa is famous for its bird watching; and the coast is home to sprawling mangrove forests and beautiful coral reefs. In efforts to protect the natural beauty of the country, the government has sanctioned a smattering of protected conservation areas that keep the resources safe from destructive humans. Off the coast north of Dar we visited Mbudja marine conservation area, a coral island completely roped off as a conservation area. Between Stone Town and Matemwe we stopped at Jozani Chwaka Bay national forest, a conservation area that features swamp forest, salt marshes, and mangrove forests. The park got its start when the Tanzanian government bought the land from a successful Indian logger in order to protect the land from deforestation. Eventually, the government purchased more and more land until Jozani grew into what it is today. Our guide, Shobani, knew everything there was to know about the forest. He knew every plant by its Latin name and local name, the traditional and witchcraft uses for each one, and the history of the park. Each of these places was created to ensure the continuation of the species and ecosystems inside. But what we haven’t talked about much is how these parks and conservation areas have affected the lives of the people who depend on those resources for survival.
In the guest lecture by Dr. Narriman, we did touch on the community benefits of conservation a bit. In her project, women in the coastal village of Fumba are able to actually make jewelry from discarded seashells, which they then sell to stores in Stone Town and even in the US. But the women still face problems of over-use. To combat this, what nirruman tried to convince the women to do was set off a small no-use area. For a certain number of months out of the year, the women would agree not to harvest shells from that area. When they did so, they noticed significant increases in yield. Examples like this could serve as a key argument in the conservation movement: protecting resources from overexploitation could make them more plentiful and resilient. In fact, the ecosystems at Jozani and Mbudya are flourishing.
The problem is that conservation often means restricted use or complete loss of resources. Even in Dr. Nirruman’s project the women couldn’t use that patch of seaweed for several months. In Jozani, the land was bought from local farmers and foresters who can no longer use the fertile soils within, and the Red Colobus monkeys living in the park destroy farmers’ crops. In marine parks all around Zanzibar villages were uprooted and forced to leave their traditional lands for the sake of conservation, and on Mafia Island (just to the south of Zanzibar) fishermen have been banned from the best fishing spots and forced to use ineffective hand lines to catch the fish they depend on for food. To many local resources users around Tanzania, it feels as though the trees and animals are valued more than the people who depend on them.
In the end, while the protection of ecosystems around the world is important for ensuring their (and our) survival, conservation groups need to be mindful that people depend on the very resources they’re trying to protect. While everything so far has been very insightful, the sustainability scientist in me does wish that we had been able to focus more attention on the balance between the ecological and the social. In countries like Tanzania, where wealth exists in natural resources, being able to actually use those resources in a sustainable way could open the door to rapid, but healthy development.
Memoirs of a Yankee 