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Institutional Arrangements for Conservation, Development and Tourism in Eastern and Southern Africa pp 181–201Cite as

The Selous-Niassa Transfrontier Conservation Area and Tourism: Evolution, Benefits and Challenges

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Abstract

The chapter demonstrates how transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) favor international tourism but also how its effectiveness in promoting local development has remained a subject of critical debate. The chapter contributes to this debate with specific focus on the process that creates TFCAs and how that process generates conditions for economic empowerment or disempowerment. The experience of the Selous-Niassa TFCA is used to examine how evolution and promotion of tourism has differentiated impacts on different actors. Most of the communities on the edges of TFCAs are struggling with the loss of basic rights to land, which is their main source of livelihoods. Tourism as an economic activity has mainly remained in few powerful hands as benefits are hampered by the capital tendency of the industry for which TFCAs are not immune. Conclusively, transfrontier conservation may be a flagship project for the southern African region, but mainly for what conservation is called to serve: nature protection.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Land in Tanzania is still generally placed on the central government and the Village Land Act No. 5 of 1999 defines ‘village land’ as areas of which the borders have been demarcated as village land under any law and village councils are responsible for the management and administration of such lands.

  2. 2.

    Under a joint name of ‘Friends of Mbarang’andu’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

    Christine Noe

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  1. Christine Noe
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Correspondence to Christine Noe .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    René van der Duim

  2. Social Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Machiel Lamers

  3. Maastricht School of Management, Maastricht, Limburg, The Netherlands

    Jakomijn van Wijk

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Noe, C. (2015). The Selous-Niassa Transfrontier Conservation Area and Tourism: Evolution, Benefits and Challenges. In: van der Duim, R., Lamers, M., van Wijk, J. (eds) Institutional Arrangements for Conservation, Development and Tourism in Eastern and Southern Africa. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9529-6_10

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