Interrogating Wildlife Conservation Partnerships in Rufiji and Kilwa Districts, Tanzania: Context, Process and Sustainability Outcomes

This paper presents a preliminary analysis of empirical data from a research project on New Partnerships for Sustainability (NEPSUS) in Tanzania. It follows research in eight villages in Rufiji and Kilwa districts where six months of fieldwork was conducted over the period February 2017 to February 2019. We seek to understand wildlife conservation partnerships in north-eastern section of the Selous ecosystem. We examine the processes that have given shape to these partnerships and provide a preliminary picture of ecological and livelihood sustainability outcomes. Data were collected through structured interviews using Open Data Kit and semi-structured interviews with key informants as well as focus group discussions. In total, 354 households were involved in the survey, plus 27 group discussions and 44 key informant interviews across eight villages. In this paper we deal primarily with perceptions of change, as reported to us by questionnaire data and qualitative research. This preliminary analysis suggests some surprising findings. Wildlife presents a cost to many people both in terms of the damage it does, the opportunity costs of the land and resources it occupies, and the failures of existing governance regimes to provide benefits from it. But these misfortunes are concentrated on a minority of people; for most people the measures to deal with wildlife, to improve their governance and increase benefits, are not a cause for concern. While there is dissatisfaction with current affairs, there is also a lot of indifference and lack of knowledge of what is happening. The partnerships we examine are not defined by high levels of local participation. This lack of participation allows influential stakeholders to shape arrangements that facilitate forms of dispossession. This makes it harder for partnership outcomes to be just and generally beneficial.