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Yale-NUS College - Singapore

Publication Date

Spring 2018

Program Name

Tanzania: Wildlife Conservation and Political Ecology

Abstract

43 species of birds and mammals are either critically endangered or endangered within Tanzania. Compromised to halt the rapid loss of biodiversity, the Tanzanian government, several non-governmental organizations, government agencies and zoological institutions are attempting to preserve these highly-threatened species. This project assesses the current state of conservation for those species by: 1) diagnosing their captive populations in Tanzania, through visits to zoological institutions in the country and in a global scale by using ZIMS, a global database for zoos and aquariums. 2) determining the protected areas in which the species are found by overlapping distribution maps with protected areas found in the country and interviewing wildlife experts and 3) determines which species are protected by NGO’s or government agencies, done by conducting interviews with key informants of six conservation organizations/agencies in Tanzania. In addition, the project identifies prioritization aspects considered by organization when developing conservation strategies and the challenges faced by the organizations when implementing such strategies. Finally, a ranking of the species is created, listing the highly-threatened species from the ones which are less protected to those which are the most protected.

It was found that 75% of the species were protected by at least one conservation method, but only 28% were protected by the three studied strategies. 11 highly threatened species are not protected by any scheme, most of which are “less iconic” species, like shrews, bats or dull-coloured passerines.

Disciplines

African Studies | Animal Studies | Environmental Studies

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