Africa-Press – Tanzania. SEVERAL villages in wildlife- rich district of Serengeti have successfully established land-use plans to help protect the Serengeti ecosystem and foster social economic development.
The establishment of land use plans has made it possible for the villages to allocate plots for grazing, social services, residential areas, farming, forestry, as well as cemetery, among others. “We have erected beacons and signboards that show the use of every space and the people’s response to this initiative is positive.
There were many land disputes in the past, our village land use plan has ended these conflicts,” the chairman of Bwitengi village government Mr Raphael Marere told the ‘Daily News’ during a visit to the benefiting villages in Western Serengeti recently.
More importantly, the land use plans further help to solve human-wildlife conflicts which have resulted in frequent destruction of crops.
The project is jointly implemented by FZS, Tanzania National Parks, and the government with financial support from German Government through KfW Development Bank.
FZS is an international conservation organization with its headquarters in Germany and is one of important partners supporting conservation in Tanzania.
The beneficiary villagers thanked FZS for helping establish land use plans, a success story in their villages, hoping that the move will help transform their lives in many ways.
“Indeed we are seeing remarkable changes in our villages. FZS has helped us to demarcate areas by putting beacons and signboards, we now have areas reserved for grazing and cemetery.
This is a good new life in our village”, remarked Daniel Mwalimu Nyamolonga, a villager at Bwitengi.
FZS Project Manager Mr Masegeri Rurai said already 18 villages have established land use plans in the district whose large part is made up of wildlife conservation areas, including the world-famous Serengeti National Park.
FZS used this year’s World Environment Day to assist the remaining target villages including Bokore Nyichoka, Kazi and Rwamchanga in speeding up landuse planning process under the guidance of government land use plans experts.
The theme of 2021 Environment Day underscores the importance of the ecosystem, thus FZS saw the need of commemorating the day by involving land use plans which will also enable the villagers to get customary land title deeds.
FZS Land use Plans Technical Advisor, Mr Christopher Cuthbert Christopher said the land use planning steps strictly adhere to laws of the land.
Mr Christopher Japhet Kazeri, a specialist in town and village planning matters from the President’s Office( TAMISEMI) said, government experts from various departments of Serengeti District in Mara region are taking part in the exercise.
