Focus on Land in Africa: Tanzania Lesson Brief, Wildlife Management Areas

This lesson brief explores the decentralization of wildlife user rights and their impact on local communities in Tanzania. It is part of the Focus on Land in Africa: Land Tenure and Property Rights online educational tool. Wildlife in Tanzania has been property and responsibility of the state since the colonial period. In the late 1900s, however, the government ushered in new policies that granted wildlife user rights to communities that established Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) on Village Land. WMAs offer rural people new economic opportunities, but they also come with strict conditions. To date, WMAs have not achieved their objectives of conservation and local development.