Contribution Of Wildilife Management Area On Wildlife Conservation And Livelihood: A Case Of Wami-Mbiki Wildlife Management Area

ABSTRACT

This study assessed the contribution of Wami-Mbiki Wildlife Management Area (WMA) on the conservation of wildlife resources and livelihood in Maseyu, Mkono wa Mara and Gwata villages adjacent to the Wami-Mbiki WMA. Documentary review, questionnaires, interviews, focused group discussion and physical visits were used in collecting data. SPSS version 15 and Excel 2007 were used to analyse data. A total of 130 respondents were involved in this study. Findings from this study show that the WMA contributed TZS 20 million between 2008 and 2011 to each member village. Such revenue was used in social services development such as building and/or renovating classrooms, village government offices, dispensaries, water pumps and road construction. Thirty people were employed by the WMA and 90% of the employees come from the WMA member villages. The conservation cost incurred by local communities around WMA was mainly in terms of crop damage. As for conservation, since establishment of Wami-Mbiki WMA in 1997 there has been great improvement of wildlife habitats that resulted to an increase in fauna and flora diversity. WMA strengths were mainly income sharing and village representation while weaknesses included high dependency on donor support and poor WMA leadership. On opportunity, the WMA is rich in wild animal species and population while unauthorized livestock grazing was the prominent WMA challenge. The study concludes that WMA could be a solution of wildlife resources conservation and livelihood improvement if local people will be creative in developing conservation business enterprises and market them aggressively to create alternative livelihood opportunities such as small-scale income generating activities to reduce dependence on natural resources.