Land Conservation Trusts: A Case Study of Manyara Ranch, Tanzania.

AWF Working Papers

August 2005

Daudi Sumba, Patrick Bergin and Clive Jones

Land Conservation Trusts : A Case Study of ManyaraRanch, Tanzania

The African Wildlife Foundation,

together with the people of Africa,

works to ensure the wildlife and

wild lands of Africa will

endure forever.

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Arusha Center (Tanzania)African Wildlife FoundationPlot 27, Old Moshi RoadP.O. Box 2658ARUSHA, TANZANIATel: +255 27 2509616Fax: +255 27 2544453email: [email protected]

Nairobi Center (Kenya)African Wildlife FoundationBritak CentreMara Ragati RoadP.O. Box 48177, 00100NAIROBI, KENYATel: +254 20 2710367Fax: +254 20 2710372email: [email protected]

Kampala Center (Uganda)African Wildlife FoundationRuth Towers15A Clement Hill RoadP.O. Box 28217KAMPALA, UGANDATel: +256 41 344 510Fax: +256 41 235 824email: [email protected]

Washington D.C. Center (U.S.A.)African Wildlife Foundation1400 Sixteenth Street, N.W.Suite 120WASHINGTON, D.C. 20036, U.S.A.Tel: +1 202 939 3333Fax: +1 202 939 3332email: [email protected]

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About this paper series

The AWF Working Paper Series has been designed to disseminate to partners and the conservation community,aspects of AWF current work from its flagship African Heartlands Program. This series aims to share currentwork in order not only to share work experiences but also to provoke discussions on whats working or not andhow best conservation action can be undertaken to ensure that Africas wildlife and wildlands are conservedforever.

About the Authors: Daudi Sumba is the Program Performance and Communications Manager based in Nairobi,Dr. Patrick Bergin, is the President and CEO based in Washington DC and Clives Jones is the Manager, ManyaraRanch based in Manyara, Tanzania..This paper was edited by the Editorial Team consisting of Dr. Helen Gichohi, Dr. Philip Muruthi, Prof. JamesKiyiapi, Dr. Patrick Bergin, Joanna Elliott and Daudi Sumba. Other valuable comments and editorial supportwere provided by Keith Sones.

Copyright: This publication is copyrighted to AWF. It may be produced in whole or part and in any form foreducation and non-profit purposes without any special permission from the copyright holder provided that thesource is appropriately acknowledged. This publication should not be used for resale or commecial purposeswithout prior written permission of AWF. The views expressed in this publication are the authors and they donot necessarily reflect those of AWF or DGIS - the sponsor of this publication.

For more information contact the coordinating editor - Daudi Sumba at email [email protected] photos clockwise: Cattle on Ranch; Manyara Ranch game scouts; scenery of ranch (credit: AWF)

AWF Working PapersJuly 2005

Land Conservation Trusts: A Case Study of Manyara Ranch Tanzania

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Table of Contents

Summary

Landscape level Cconservation and the AWF Approach

Maasai Steppe Heartland: Background

Privatization of Manyara Ranch - Need for Alternative Solution

Critical Issues in the Management of Manyara Ranch

Results to Date

Challenges

Next Steps for Manyara Ranch and Trust

Conclusion

AWF Working PapersAugust 2005


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Land Conservation Trusts: A Potential Tool for Securing Critical Wildlife Habitats in Africa?A Case Study of Manyara Ranch, Tanzania

Summary: There is growing consensus in the conservation community that large functional conservationlandscapes are required to maintain ecological processes and viable populations of wildlife into the future. Giventhe practicalities and politics of land in Africa, such large landscapes usually require coordinated managementover different sorts of land tenures, including state, community or communal and private lands. In some landscapes,however, land units critical to the future viability of the landscape are identified that do not lend themselveseasily to any of these three land management regimes. Outside Africa, over 2000 private not-for-profit landtrusts have been created with the institutional agility to acquire rights to such critical properties and to managethem in a way that balances multiple objectives including conservation.

In the Maasai Steppe Heartland in northern Tanzania, the proposed privatization of a failing government-owned ranch created a threat to the viability of the Tarangire Manyara ecosystem. None of the proposed tenurearrangements for the ranch was able to balance the concerns of different stakeholders. African WildlifeFoundation proposed the creation of a national land conservation trust for Tanzania that would hold thisproperty and manage it to meet three main objectives: conservation, community development and economicproductivity. This paper describes the context that called for creation of a new institutional mechanism to holdthis critical piece of land. Today, four years on, there is strong evidence that the overall management andconservation values of the land have been improved by the trust. Community participation in the managementof the ranch has also been improved. The commercial success and financial sustainability of the ranch remain tobe seen. However the Tanzania Land Conservation Trust has so far not evolved as an organization with anational mandate to look at critical properties beyond Manyara Ranch.

Landscape Level Conservation and AWF approach

In most parts of rural Africa, increasing humanpopulations continue to exert immense pressure on landfor agriculture. Scarcity of good arable land has forcedpeople to expand into marginal lands more ofteninhabited by wildlife. This has not only increasedhuman-wildlife conf licts but has led to habitatfragmentation and conversion of land to other usesincompatible with wildlife. The result is that wildlifehabitats have been reduced to small isolated land units,connectivity between key ecological habitats has beenblocked and, most importantly, the long term survivalof wildlife is threatened. This situation has called for adifferent innovative approach to conservation –landscape level conservation - if wildlife is to survive inAfrica. Landscape level conservation demands that keyhabitats needed by wildlife are conserved in sizes thatcan support viable populations. It also ensures thatnatural processes such as migrations, dispersal andother wildlife movements in search of water, food, matesand other resources between key ecological areas aremaintained by bringing under conservation critical land

units that support these functions. More importantly,the approach also provides an opportunity for livelihoodneeds of the people to be addressed so that they do notcontinue to threaten the viability of wildlife.AWF believes that wildlife in Africa will only beconserved if large landscapes are brought underconservation. Therefore AWF is implementing theHeartlands approach in Africa. Heartlands are largecohesive, biologically important conservation landscapesthat have scope to support healthy populations ofwildlife species and natural processes such as migrationand dispersal well into the future1. Heartlands as definedby AWF range in size from 7000 km2 to 100,000 km2,and may be located in one country or span internationalborders. Heartlands typically consist of different landregimes such as protected areas, communal lands, privatelands and other state lands. The wide array of landownership requires AWF to utilize multi-stakeholderparticipation and partnerships in the implementationof conservation interventions. In addition to theirimportance to biodiversity conservation, Heartlands arealso selected for their economic importance especiallyin relation to tourism or other natural resource based



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activities which can contribute significantly to thelivelihoods of the local people.In each Heartland, AWF works closely with a wide rangeof partners including national and local governments,communities, research organizations, other nongovernmental organizations and the private sector toimplement priority interventions in the followingstrategic areas: land and habitat conservation; speciesconservation and applied research; conservationenterprises; capacity building and leadershipdevelopment; and policy advocacy. In order to bringland under conservation in Heartlands, AWF uses avariety of tools and approaches that include the designof land use plans which zone lands for various uses suchas grazing, wildlife and other economic activities, e.g.tourism. AWF also enters agreements with willinglandowners to ensure sustainable land management oncritical ecological lands. More recently, AWF has workedwith landowners and other partners to form versatileland conservation trusts to secure land for long termconservation. A wide range of legal and economic toolssuch as easements, direct purchase, managementagreements and direct payments exist to help bring landunder conservation through these trusts. It is againstthis background that the Tanzania Land ConservationTrust was formed to acquire the Manyara Ranch in theMaasai Steppe Heartland.

Background to Maasai Steppe Heartland

The Maasai Steppe is one of the seven AWF Heartlandsand is located in northern Tanzania (see map). It coversan estimated area of 35,000 km2. It is coveredpredominantly by wooded savannah and grassland andis one of the worlds last surviving large, intact wildlandscapes that still support high concentrations ofmegafauna. It contains a mosaic of lands includingnational parks, controlled hunting areas, communitylands, national forest reserves and wetlands. Two ofTanzania’s most visited and profitable national parks inthe northern tourism circuit, Lake Manyara andTarangire are found in the Heartland. The northerncircuit also includes Ngorongoro and Serengeti NationalPark and is the backbone of the country’s growingtourism industry which is estimated to be worth aroundUS$1.3 billion per year and contributes about 13% ofthe GDP2.

The Heartland has the second largest density of animalbiomass in the world after the Ngorongoro3. There is alarge population of elephants (about 3500) as well as

large migratory herds of zebra and wildebeest and locallythreatened species such as buffalo, oryx, hartebeest,greater and lesser kudu, gerenuk and eland. Variouspredators such as lions, leopards and the endangeredAfrican wild dog are also found in the Heartland. Thereis also rich bird diversity in the area with around 350species being recorded in Lake Manyara National Park4.

The maintenance of wildlife populations in theHeartland largely depends on seasonal migrationbetween the core protected areas and other key wildlifeareas of northern Tanzania such as Simanjiro plains, LakeManyara Ngorongoro Conservation Area, SerengetiNational Park and Lake Natron. During the dry season,wildlife concentrates along the Tarangire River inTarangire National Park and in Lake Manyara wheresurface water can be found year round. In the wet seasonmany species disperse out of the park to surroundinggrassland where they come into contact and oftenconflict with people.

In addition to its importance for wildlife, the Heartlandis home to 350,000 people most of whom arepastoralists. During the last 20 years, non-pastoralistshave been steadily migrating into the arable areas of theHeartland, fueling rapid population growth andconsequent competition for natural resources and land5.As a result pastoralists are finding it increasingly difficultto survive on livestock alone and are now turning tosettled agriculture to supplement their livestock orientedlivelihoods. The result is that land use in the Heartlandis gradually changing with more land, much of itmarginal, being taken out of conservation for cropproduction. This has fragmented the landscape andposes a serious threat to the last remaining migratoryroutes for wildlife in the heartland.Various other threats face wildlife in the Heartland.These include overgrazing and degradation of rangeland,deforestation, human-wildlife conflicts, unregulatedhunting and poaching. However, land fragmentation andconversion are the most serious threats because theyhave the potential to block wildlife migratory routes,isolate national parks and lead to a decrease in wildlifenumbers and health.

The ecologically important Manyara Ranch - a formergovernment livestock ranch - is a part of the KwaKuchinja corridor that facilitates the last remainingmovement of wildlife between Tarangire and Manyaranational parks. This land unit was potentially underserious threat that would have negatively affected



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landscape functionality. In line with its EconomicLiberalization and Divesture Program, the Governmentof Tanzania put up the loss making ranch forprivatization. The potential threat was that whenprivatized, the ranch would be utilized in waysincompatible with conservation, blocking wildlifemovement. In 1998, AWF began working closely withthe community, its leaders, local politicians andconservation professionals to secure Manyara Ranch sothat it would continue to facilitate wildlife movementbetween Manyara and Tarangire National Parks andsafeguard the wildlife populations, the integrity ofprotected areas and the tourism industry that dependson the wildlife.

Privatization of Manyara Ranch – the Need for anAlternative Solution

Manyara Ranch occupies 17,807 hectares (approximately45,000 acres) of land and is located 80 kilometers fromArusha in the Maasai Steppe Heartland. Like the rest ofthe Heartland, the ranch is semi-arid with annual averagerainfall of 600-700 mm. The vegetation is mainly acaciacommiphora bushland and grassland. The main watersources are natural seasonal rivers supplemented by man-made dams. The ranch is used by both resident and

migratory wildlife species such aselephants, impala, buffalo, lionand gazelles as they move betweenManyara and Tarangire NationalParks.Since 1975, Manyara Ranch wasmanaged as a commercial livestockranch by the National RanchingCompany (NARCO), aGovernment of Tanzania parastatalorganization. However despitepossessing a healthy stock oflivestock, it was plagued by poormanagement and was notprofitable. With time itsinfrastructure crumbled. Forinstance in 1998/99, the ranchmade a loss of Tshs 9 million(US$10,000)6. During this time,the Government had embarked ona privatization strategy that soughtto sell off all loss makinggovernment assets in an effort tostimulate economic growth.Manyara Ranch was one of theseproperties that were prioritized

for privatization through sale.

Various options existed for the Government during thistime concerning the disposal of Manyara Ranch. Firstly,there was the option of declaring the area a nationalpark and annexing it to Manyara National Park so thatit could continue to be used for wildlife conservation.This option was deemed unacceptable because it woulddisadvantage communities who were using the ranchfor dry season grazing, reintroduce animosities that arisewith alienation of land for state protection and negatethe gains made in community based natural resourcemanagement.

The second option involved handing the ranch back tothe community for their use as they would see fit. Beforethe ranch was acquired by white settlers and later theGovernment, the land belonged to the community. Thisoption was also deemed unacceptable because there waspossibility that the community would use the land forlivestock grazing and expanded agriculture in line withthe prevailing pressures in the neighboring areas leadingto fragmentation and blockage of wildlife movement.

The third option involved selling the ranch and all itsassets to the private sector at market prices for use either



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as a livestock or wildlife ranch or other usesincompatible with overall landscape conservation. Atthe time, there was interest from various private sectoroperators who wished to develop private game reservesfor tourism. This meant that the ranch would have tobe fenced to protect and improve wildlife populationson the ranch for tourism. The move would have blockedwildlife movement that is crucial for healthypopulations in parks but would also have excludedcommunities from using the ranch.

AWF working with partners – communities, theirleaders, local politicians, the local member of parliamentand conservation professionals from Tanzania NationalParks (TANAPA), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)and United Nations Development Program (UNDP)proposed to the Government an alternative disposaloption for the ranch whereby the ownership of the ranchwould be transferred to a duly registered andrepresentative land trust that would hold the land intrust for community benefit and wildlife conservation.The land trust model was selected because:

a) It was already widely in use elsewhere in Africa, e.g.South Africa, and in the United States of Americaby the Nature Conservancy as a mechanism foracquiring and managing land for conservation andtherefore guidance was available.

b) There was an already existing precedent in Tanzaniawhere a land trust has been used to acquire theprivately owned Mkwaja Ranch that was added tothe Sadani Game Reserve7.

c) The legal framework for establishing the trust existedunder the Trustees Incorporation Ordinance,Chapter 375 of the Laws of Tanzania.

AWF then led the process where a task force chaired bythe Monduli District Commissioner was formed todevelop a land conservation trust that would be usedto acquire and manage the ranch. AWF served as thesecretariat for the task force and provided funding forits activities. Other members of the task force includedcommunity representatives, the RegionalAdministration, WWF, TANAPA and UNDP. Theactivities of the task force included sensitizing thecommunity on the trust approach and resolvingcompeting claims of local villages over use; ownershipof Manyara Ranch; lobbying the Government for titleof the ranch; raising funds and pursuing legal processessuch as registration of the trust. The work of the taskforce led to the establishment of the Tanzania Land

Conservation Trust (TLCT) which was formallyregistered in July 2000.The Trust is managed by a board of trustees under thechairmanship of the local MP and its trustees are drawnfrom representatives of AWF, WWF, TANAPA, UNDP,the local Maasai community and the private sector. AWFserves as the secretariat. The objective of the Trust is topromote nature preservation and conservation andeconomic activities compatible with conservation forthe benefit of present and future generations throughoutTanzania. A local steering committee, whosemembership includes representatives of the localcommunity, serves as an advisory body and effectivelylinks the community with the ranch management.

After intense lobbying by the communities, the areaMP and the trust, the President of Tanzania approvedthe request for the ranch to be allocated to the TanzaniaLand Conservation Trust on 19th April 2001 and the99-year title deed for Manyara Ranch was issued gratisto the Trust. The Trust assumed ownership of the landand assets worth US$233,000. It also assumedresponsibility for and settled the terminal dues of theformer NARCO employees with funding from donors.Besides other infrastructure like dams, cattle troughs,buildings most of which were dilapidated and notfunctional, there was a Government owned boardingprimary school located at the center of the ranch.

Critical Issues in the Management of ManyaraRanch

The trust is responsible for the management of ManyaraRanch for wildlife conservation and community benefit.To date, immense progress has been made in themanagement of the ranch aimed at transforming it intoa viable commercial enterprise. The trust has hired aRanch Manager and support staff including game scoutsto manage the ranch. This has helped reestablish theadministrative and management capacity at the ranch,improved operations and especially security for bothlivestock and wildlife. A community liaison officer hasalso been hired and he has been instrumental inimproving communication with the communities.Infrastructure that was dilapidated such as dams,buildings and cattle troughs has been rehabilitated to agreater degree and is now functional. This can beattributed to an interim management plan that wasdeveloped to guide initial rehabilitation works andrestore the ranch to functional status. The next planningstep will involve the development of a strategic plan



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through a multi-stakeholder participatory process inwhich a common vision for the ranch will be identified.This plan will lay the basis upon which operationalmanagement and business plans will be developed.However some issues that are critical for the ranch tobe successfully transformed into an economically viableconcern for wildlife conservation and improvingcommunity livelihoods still remain.

Livestock: Livestock production has been identified asone of the revenue streams with potential to contributeto the commercial viability of the ranch. The ranch had1200 Boran cattle and 600 sheep inherited fromNARCO. Three key challenges face the managementwith regard to livestock production, namely predationby wildlife, diseases transmitted from wildlife andmarketing of livestock products.Today livestock predation is not a serious issue. Forexample, in 2004, 12 livestock were killed by predators.However as wildlife numbers increase on the ranch,livestock predation is bound to increase imposingconsiderable losses to the ranch.

The presence of wildlife also carries the risk of variousdiseases such as tick-borne diseases, foot and mouthdisease and malignant catarrhal fever being transmittedto livestock. Disease is a more serious threat for livestockproduction on the ranch because during outbreaks, itnot only causes decline in livestock numbers but alsoaffects marketing of livestock products for the durationof the disease cycle. Today foot and mouth diseaseoutbreaks are frequent on the ranch, occurring onavearege, twice a year. Though its impact on productivityis minimal, a reported outbreak causes the ranch to beplaced under quarantine under Tanzanian law. Livestocksales are also stopped and therefore impacts onassociated income can be considerable.The ranch management has, in line with the goal ofallowing community use of the ranch, signed a wateringand grazing agreement with communities that allowsthem to graze their livestock on the ranch during certainperiods. This carries the risk of livestock predation,disease transmission between wildlife and livestockbelonging to ranch and pastoralists and degradation dueto overgrazing. This has potential to generate conflictsespecially between the community and the ranch.However considerable progress has been made to solveovergrazing through access and enforcement protocolsthat have been developed by the community and arebeing implemented by the ranch management. Forinstance fines are levied on errant community membersthrough existing community peer pressure systems. The

main challenge now remains the lack of capacity toprovide adequate management oversight for the process.

Marketing of livestock products is crucial for theviability of the ranch as a commercial enterprise.Already, the ranch has assisted the community to forma community based organization, RAMAT, to whichthey sell their livestock for onward marketing to highend markets for profit. The main challenge is how thisrelationship can be consistently used to generate therevenues required to make the ranch commercially viable.

It appears that for livestock production to contributesufficiently to the commercialization of the ranch,wildlife predation, disease and marketing will have tobe better managed. Various options are available foraddressing these challenges. These include increasinglivestock numbers to increase profits through economiesof scale; focusing on livestock breeding to supply highquality breeds to buyers and the community; andphasing out livestock production in recognition of themarginal opportunity that it presents in comparison towildlife tourism. The Trust and the ranch managementwill have to consider the strategic direction that needsto be taken with regard to livestock production as arevenue stream.

Education: This carries implications for the success ofthe ranch because of its potential either to impose acost burden on the Trust through the school or to enlistthe support of the community for the objectives of thebranch through improvement in literacy.

The Trust inherited a boarding primary school that wasbuilt on the ranch by the Government in 1970. Theschool has a reputation for good performance innational examinations in Tanzania. It has about 1000pupils drawn from the community and beyond. Whenthe trust inherited the school, it was in poor conditionbesides being inappropriately sited within a corridorand wilderness area. The trust has now identified a newsite to move the school to. This site is close to thenorthern boundary of the ranch and key amenities likewater and electricity. The trust has also secured fundsfrom donors that are being used to construct schoolfacilities including offices, classrooms and teachersaccommodation. The main challenge lies in how theranch and trust will be able to provide continualresources from existing revenue streams needed tomanage the school to required standards.



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Like any rural pastoral area, the level of illiteracy amongthe community members is very high. Initial conflictsbetween the ranch and community over grazing,ownership and benefits have been caused by lack ofunderstanding due primarily to illiteracy. Thereforecommunity education is crucial for the community, whoare key stakeholders in the management of the ranch,to support the objectives of the ranch and make it asuccess. Direct support from the trust to primaryschooling through the boarding school is seen as afundamental step in addressing peripheral communityliteracy constraints and building capacity for futureleadership and management. This education focus willhave to be sustained and broadened over time if it is totranslate positively into overall support for the ranch.

Conservation: One of the principal objectives of TLCTis to conserve the instrinsic natural resource values ofthe Manyara Ranch. It is this natural resource valuesthat provide an opportunity to develop through wildlifetourism, a primary revenue stream to facilitate thecommercialization of the ranch. Various managementinitiatives have been implemented in order to enhancethe conservation values of the ranch upon which anycommercialisation will be based. A game scout systemhas been established on the ranch improving securityfor wildlife. As a result, wildlife numbers have increased.For instance in September 2004, 100 elephants, 20endangered wild dogs and 50 buffalos were resident onthe ranch8. The presence of wildlife has then generatedpotential for enterprise development that should tapinto the vibrant northern tourism circuit. AWF, usingits core expertise in appropriating wildlife values throughenterprise development and conservation, is supportingthe ranch to exploit this potential. AWF has conductedenterprise feasibility studies of the ranch and identifiedavailable options including campsites and lodges thatcan be developed to take advantage of the northerntourism circuit and generate needed revenue for theranch and the community. Negotiations are currentlyin progress with interested private sector partners forthe development of enterprises.

Although security for wildlife has been considerablyimproved, various challenges still remain as the wildlifepopulation increases. The ranch covers a relatively largearea but is not fenced. It is therefore open to intrusionfrom different areas and will be much harder to protect.More personnel and equipment will be required to stemcritical threats to the viability of wildlife, such aspoaching.

Another key challenge that the Trust faces that hasalready been alluded to concerns how it will manageinteractions between wildlife and livestock in order toavoid livestock predation, the risk of overgrazing andconsequent conflicts. Overgrazing has the potential tolead to degradation of the range threateningconservation values. The communities peripheral to theranch own large numbers of livestock (in excess of26,500) and these together with livestock from theranch will exert considerable pressure on the ranch waterand grazing resources during droughts. Although thereis a grazing agreement between the ranch and thecommunity that stipulates penalties for non-compliance,enforcement is already and will continue to be asignificant management challenge especially if livestockwill need to be excluded from sections of the ranchthat may be dedicated to enterprises in future.

Results to Date

Three years on, the strategy adopted for acquisition andmanagement of Manyara Ranch has demonstrated somepreliminary results. Firstly, the immediate threat to theMaasai Steppe landscape of this critical land unit beingsubdivided, cultivated or fenced has been averted.Secondly, the critical interests of the main stakeholdergroups – communities, conservation organizations andGovernment - have been addressed to a considerableextent. National parks and conservation concerns havesecured their corridor, improved security and nowwildlife numbers have increased. Communities areinvolved in the management of the ranch and areenjoying improved services, including the school andsupport to their livestock production activities. TheGovernment of Tanzania can be happy that the ranch isnow well managed, is attracting investment in thecountry from various donors and is playing a productiverole in the economy. The potential for increasedinvestment exists as private sector enterpreneurs shownew interest in the ranch for tourism enterprisedevelopment and to take advantage of the vibrantnorthern tourism circuit.

Challenges

The main challenge facing the ranch is how to achieveeconomic viability using the available options – livestockproduction and wildlife tourism. Currently, the ranchhas high recurrent costs for managing livestockproduction, the school and conservation functions butdoes not generate enough revenue to cover the costs.



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The ranch will have to increase and diversify availablerevenue streams if it is to become economically viable.

Commercialization and achievement of economicviability for a ranch normally takes a long time. TheManyara Ranch was very run down and had been a lossmaking enterprise for years. Efforts to commercializeand convert the ranch it into a profitable enterprise willrequire substantial investments in infrastructure, humanand financial capacity. This in turn will require time,focus and skill. The ranch also needs to time to recovertourism values and restructuring costs if it is to be viable.

Since its acquisition, the operations of ranch havemainly been funded by donors. Most of the processesto turn the ranch around will take considerableresources invested over a long period of time. The keyquestion remains whether the trust will achievesustainability in conservation, community developmentand economic terms before donor fatigue sets in.

Next Steps for Manyara Ranch and the Trust

Based on the experience of Manyara Ranch, somerecommendations can be made to practitioners thatwould consider adopting the land trust as a mechanismfor acquiring critical lands.

A three step process may be used with land trust. Thefirst step involves the acquisition of the land/propertyusing legal and economic tools and instruments thatthe flexibility of the trust provides in a given policycontext. These tools include leases, conservationeasements, direct land purchases, managementagreements and covenants that will normally be definedby the prevailing legal and policy framework in thecountry of operation. It is crucial that extensiveconsultations are conducted to address competinginterests and buy-in is secured from all the keystakeholders of the land that is being acquired for thetrust mechanism to function effectively.

After acquisition, the second step for the trust is therestructuring/reform of the property or land orenterprise so that it is positioned to meet its key goalsthat may include conservation and communitydevelopment and wildlife tourism. As has already beendemonstrated in this paper, this step takes more timeand resources than expected. The trust must thereforesecure sufficient resources to invest in the restructuringphase.

Finally, the trust must manage the property usingappropriate structures to move it to financialsustainability. It is crucial that the trust identifies anddevelops revenue streams that are required to move theland/enterprise to financial sustainability. Ultimately,the enterprise should be able to pay for its operationsand not depend on subsidies such as donor funding.

Although TLCT was formed as a national institution,Manyara Ranch remains the only property that it hasacquired. Therefore it currently lacks the mandate tooperate nationally. TLCT will need to evolve into anorganization with a national mandate by broadening itscoverage to consider and acquire lands throughoutTanzania with critical and threatened conservationvalues. It will also need to broaden its representation atthe trustee level to acquire a national outlook and gainacceptability in the areas that it proposes to work. Theconservation challenges in Tanzania are huge butavailable resources are scarce. TLCT offers a mechanismwhere these resources can be channeled for addressingconservation challenges in Tanzania without duplication.

Conclusion

Each landscape in Africa has its own challenges andtherefore different approaches will be needed for theconservation of critical lands. The concept of a landtrust that has the flexibility to buy, sell and manageland may become more important in the future. ManyaraRanch in Tanzania under the TLCT is an importantlearning example in this regard.

Endnotes

1 www.awf.org2 www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook3 The Manyara Ranch: Report to the TLCT trustees.November 2003-September 20044 www.tanzania-web.com/parks/manyara.htm5 Anon (2005) The Manyara Ranch: an overview. 6pp6 Kahurananga, J., Sumba, D., Ole Lengisugi, N. andOle Mako, R. (1999) Manyara Ranch: current situation,future disposal and impact on the Kwa Kuchinja wildlifecorridor. AWF, Arusha, Tanzania. 12pp.7 www.ecologyfund.com8 The Manyara Ranch: Report to the TLCT trustees.November 2003-September 2004.

This Pub-licationis fundedby theNether-landsMinistryof For-eign Af-fairs/Di-rectorateGeneralfor Inter-nationalCoopera-tion(DGIS).

This Publication is funded by the NetherlandsMinistry of Foreign Affairs/Directorate Generalfor International Cooperation (DGIS).

www.awf.org

© 2005 African Wildlife Foundation

This document was produced by AWF’s Program teamwith assistance from DGIS

For more information, please contact [email protected]

Land Conservation Trusts: A Case Study of Manyara Ranch, Tanzania.

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