Conservation-with-Development: An Application of the Concept in the Usambara Mountains, Tanzania

Abstract

Conservation-with-development (CWD) has been taken up by conservation bodies and development agencies as a way of maintaining biological diversity through promoting the development and involvement of local people. One of the longest running purpose-designed CWD projects is located in the east Usambara Mountains of Tanzania, which support an important and rich forest ecosystem containing numerous endemic species of flora and fauna. The area also maintains a human population which is increasingly turning to the forest for its livelihood. The cases for conservation and for development, and how far the two objectives are mutually compatible, are discussed. The East Usambaras Agricultural Development and Environmental Conservation project is involved in a diversity of activities, ranging from village industry to forest protection, and demonstrates not only the difficulty of managing such a complex project but also some of the conflicts between environmental conservation and participatory rural development. We conclude that CWD projects are complicated, lack a clearly-defined rationale and methodology and need to be made more distinct from multi-sectoral integrated rural development approaches