Potential and challenges of the Serengeti-Ngorongoro Biosphere Reserve, Tanzania

Abstract

This article examines whether the Serengeti-Ngorongoro Biosphere Reserve, Tanzania, is successfully mitigating the immense challenges that rising populationdensity and growing land-use pressure, as well as climate change and tourism,pose to vulnerable biodiversity hotspots, such as ancient Afromontane forests. Thebiosphere reserve’s management approach to ecological and socio-cultural heritagewas analysed using the Global-Local Drivers of Change model as a theoreticalbasis, together with The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) analysisframework. This empirical study of a relatively old Sub-Saharan African biospherereserve (established in 1981) used a qualitative research approach, where datawas collected from focus groups living in the reserve, and semi-structured interviewswith Ngorongoro Conservation Area officials and other main stakeholders. Resultsshow that the management focus on environmental conservation over socio-culturalheritage has led to population growth, cultural change and landscape transformation,leading to human-wildlife conflicts and negative park-people relationships. Itis concluded that this biosphere reserve needs to better exploit its vast potential andadjust its institutional structure and operational strategies to align with modern OtherEffective Area-Based Conservation Methods