The area of eastern Africa, which includes Tanzania and Kenya, is known
for its savannas, wildlife and tribal peoples. Alongside these iconic
images lie concerns about environmental degradation, declining wildlife
populations, and about worsening poverty of pastoral peoples. East
Africa presents in microcosm the paradox so widely seen across sub
Saharan Africa, where the world's poorest and most vulnerable
populations live alongside some of the world's most outstanding
biodiversity resources.
Over the last decade or so, community conservation has emerged as a way
out of poverty and environmental problems for these rural populations,
focusing on the sustainable use of wildlife to generate income that
could underpin equally sustainable development. Given the enduring
interest in East African wildlife, and the very large tourist income it
generates, these communities and ecosystems seem a natural case for
green development based on community conservation.
This volume is focused on the livelihoods of the Maasai in two different
countries - Kenya and Tanzania. This cross-border comparative analysis
looks at what people do, why they choose to do it, with what success and
with what implications for wildlife. The comparative approach makes it
possible to unpack the interaction of conservation and development, to
identify the main drivers of livelihoods change and the main outcomes of
wildlife conservation or other land use policies, while controlling for
confounding factors in these semi-arid and perennially variable systems.
This synthesis draws out lessons about the successes and failures of
community conservation-based approach to development in Maasailand under
different national political and economic contexts and different local
social and historical particularities.
