Evaluating conservation effectiveness in a Tanzanian community wildlife management area

Lee, Derek

doi:10.1002/jwmg.21549

Cited by 50 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Thus, measuring the conservation effectiveness of protected areas requires time‐matched wildlife population data from suitable spatial reference points. Whether to choose areas with little or no conservation efforts as reference points (Lee, ; Lee & Bond, ), or fully protected national parks (Arcese & Sinclair, ; Sinclair & Dobson, ), may be a philosophical question. However, comparisons to fully protected areas can potentially yield stronger arguments for the conservation value and ecological integrity of community‐based conservation models.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The climate of the area is semiarid, with an average annual rainfall of 710 mm (Prins & Loth, 1988). The topography is flat to undulating, and the average elevation is between 1,000 m (BWMA) and 1,200 m (TNP) above sea level (Gereta, Ole Meing'ataki, Mduma, & Wolanski, 2004;Lee, 2018). The landscape is characterized by mosaics of Acacia-Commiphora bushland, edaphic grasslands, and riverine vegetation (Lamprey, 1964;Prins & Loth, 1988).…”

Section: Study Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The portion K E Y W O R D S community-based conservation, conservation effectiveness, distance sampling, ecological baseline, participatory monitoring, population dynamics of BWMA that is set aside for wildlife use only is 280 km 2 in extent (226 km 2 excluding Lake Burunge). Initially, the eastern portion of the wildlife area was designated for trophy hunting, but since 2014 only photographic tourism has been practiced in the wildlife area (Lee, 2018). Village game scouts regularly patrol the area by vehicle and on foot to mitigate illegal activities such as livestock grazing, tree cutting, and hunting.…”

Section: Study Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Village game scouts regularly patrol the area by vehicle and on foot to mitigate illegal activities such as livestock grazing, tree cutting, and hunting. Due to support from multiple donors, the management of the BWMA and law enforcement activities have been substantially strengthened since 2015 (Lee, 2018).…”

Section: Study Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, we report on a participatory (i.e., involving local management personnel) monitoring study (Danielsen, Burgess, & Balmford, 2005;Msoffe et al, 2010) to estimate mammalian species richness and densities of ten mammal species in Burunge Wildlife Management Area, Tanzania. In contrast to other assessments of the effectiveness of wildlife management areas in northern Tanzania, which used animal population metrics on community lands as baseline for comparisons (Lee, 2018;Lee & Bond, 2018), we chose to compare wildlife community and population parameters to those assessed in an adjacent fully protected national park (Tarangire National Park). Using a national park as baseline allowed us to assess whether wildlife management areas can support the same structure and abundance of wildlife populations compared to areas where human influence is minimal (Arcese & Sinclair, 1997;Sinclair & Dobson, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Community‐based wildlife management area supports similar mammal species richness and densities compared to a national park

Kiffner¹,

Thomas

Speaker

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Community-based conservation models have been widely implemented across Africa to improve wildlife conservation and livelihoods of rural communities. In Tanzania, communities can set aside land and formally register it as Wildlife Management Area (WMA), which allows them to generate revenue via consumptive or nonconsumptive utilization of wildlife. The key, yet often untested, assumption of this model is that economic benefits accrued from wildlife motivate sustainable management of wildlife. To test the ecological effectiveness (here defined as persistence of wildlife populations) of Burunge Wildlife Management Area (BWMA), we employed a participatory monitoring approach involving WMA personnel. At intermittent intervals between 2011 and 2018, we estimated mammal species richness and population densities of ten mammal species (African elephant, giraffe, buffalo, zebra, wildebeest, waterbuck, warthog, impala, Kirk's dik-dik, and vervet monkey) along line transects. We compared mammal species accumulation curves and density estimates with those of time-matched road transect surveys conducted in adjacent Tarangire National Park (TNP). Mammal species richness estimates were similar in both areas, yet observed species richness per transect was greater in TNP compared to BWMA.Species-specific density estimates of time-matched surveys were mostly not significantly different between BWMA and TNP, but elephants occasionally reached greater densities in TNP compared to BWMA. In BWMA, elephant, wildebeest, and impala populations showed significant increases from 2011 to 2018. These results suggest that community-based conservation models can support mammal communities and densities that are similar to national park baselines. In light of the ecological success of this case study, we emphasize the need for continued efforts to ensure that the BWMA is effective. This will require adaptive management to counteract potential negative repercussions of wildlife populations on peoples' livelihoods. This study can be used as a model to evaluate the effectiveness of wildlife management areas across Tanzania.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Study Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Community‐based wildlife management area supports similar mammal species richness and densities compared to a national park

Kiffner¹,

Thomas

Speaker

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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What is the evidence that counter‐wildlife crime interventions are effective for conserving African, Asian and Latin American wildlife directly threatened by exploitation? A systematic map

Rytwinski,

Muir,

Miller

et al. 2024

Ecol Sol and Evidence

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Counter‐wildlife crime (CWC) interventions—those that directly protect target wildlife from illegal harvest/persecution, detect and sanction rule‐breakers, and interdict and control illegal wildlife commodities—are widely applied to address biodiversity loss. This systematic map provides an overview of the literature on the effectiveness of CWC interventions for conserving African, Asian and Latin American wildlife directly threatened by exploitation, including human–wildlife conflicts that trigger poaching. Following our systematic map protocol (Rytwinski, Öckerman, et al., 2021), we compiled peer‐reviewed and grey literature and screened articles using pre‐defined inclusion criteria. Included studies were coded for key variables of interest, from which we produced a searchable database, interactive map and structured heatmaps. A total of 530 studies from 477 articles were included in the systematic map. Most studies were from Africa and Asia (81% of studies) and focused on African and Asian elephants (16%), felids (14%) and turtles and tortoises (11%). Most evaluations of CWC interventions targeted wildlife products (rather than species) and the transfer of those products along the wildlife crime continuum (40% of cases). Population/species outcomes were most commonly measured via indicators of threat reduction (65% of cases) and intermediate outcomes (25%). We identified knowledge clusters where studies investigated the links between (1) patrols and other preventative actions to increase detection and population abundance and (2) information analysis and sharing and wildlife crime/trade levels. However, the effectiveness of most interventions was not rigorously evaluated. Most investigations used post‐implementation monitoring only (e.g. lacking a comparator), and no experimental designs were found. We identified several key knowledge gaps including a paucity of studies by geography (Latin America), taxonomy (plants, birds and reptiles), interventions (non‐patrol‐based CWC interventions) and outcomes (biological and the combination of biological and human well‐being outcomes). Our map reveals an opportunity to improve the rigour and documentation of CWC intervention evaluations, which would enable the evidence‐based selection of effective approaches to improve wildlife conservation and national security.

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Genetic evidence of population subdivision among Masai giraffes separated by the Gregory Rift Valley in Tanzania

Lohay

Lee

Wu-Cavener

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

Self Cite

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The Masai giraffe has experienced a population decline from 70,000 to 35,000 in the past three decades and was declared an endangered subspecies by the IUCN in 2019. The remaining number of Masai giraffe are geographically separated by the steep cliffs of the Gregory Rift escarpments (GRE) in Tanzania and Kenya dividing them into two populations, one west and one east of the GRE. The cliffs of the GRE are formidable barriers to east–west dispersal and gene flow and the few remaining natural corridors through the GRE are occupied by human settlements. To assess the impact of the GRE on Masai giraffe gene flow, we examined whole genome sequences of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation in populations located east (Tarangire ecosystem) and west (Serengeti ecosystem) of the GRE in northern Tanzania. Evidence from mtDNA variation, which measures female‐mediated gene flow, suggests that females have not migrated across the GRE between populations in the Serengeti and Tarangire ecosystems in the past ~289,000 years. The analysis of nuclear DNA variation compared to mtDNA DNA variation suggests that male‐mediated gene flow across the GRE has occurred more recently but stopped a few thousand years ago. Our findings show that Masai giraffes are split into two populations and fulfill the criteria for designation as distinct evolutionary significant units (ESUs), which we denote as western Masai giraffe and eastern Masai giraffe. While establishing giraffe dispersal corridors across the GRE is impractical, conservation efforts should be focused on maintaining connectivity among populations within each of these two populations. The importance of these efforts is heightened by our finding that the inbreeding coefficients are high in some of these Masai giraffe populations, which could result in inbreeding depression in the small and fragmented populations.

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Evaluating conservation effectiveness in a Tanzanian community wildlife management area

Cited by 50 publications

References 36 publications

Community‐based wildlife management area supports similar mammal species richness and densities compared to a national park

Community‐based wildlife management area supports similar mammal species richness and densities compared to a national park

What is the evidence that counter‐wildlife crime interventions are effective for conserving African, Asian and Latin American wildlife directly threatened by exploitation? A systematic map

Genetic evidence of population subdivision among Masai giraffes separated by the Gregory Rift Valley in Tanzania

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