The potentials of traditional African cultural practices in mitigating overexploitation of wildlife species and habitat loss: experience of Tanzania
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Date
2009-01
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Taylor Francis
Abstract
Both colonial and post-colonial conservation policies ignored the potential role of traditional African cultural practices in
contributing to conservation goals. Recently, there has been a growing global interest in these practices, although recognition in
official conservation policies is still minimal in many countries. This global interest is enthused by the reality that although the
use of wild species and their habitats remains the foundation for human survival all over the world, there is a huge risk of losing
these species. Factors such as rapid human population increase, inadequate local support for conservation policies, limited
strategies for survival among local communities and inadequate capacity of the government to fund law enforcement
operations against illegal activities subject the species and habitats to unsustainable use. Traditional cultural practices,
among other strategies, have promising potential to enhance sustainable resource use and conservation and, therefore, realize
the desire for ecological and social sustainability. Using examples and data drawn from different parts of Tanzania, this paper
attempts to uncover some of these potentials on which policy-makers and conservationists can capitalize to augment
conservation work. The paper begins by reviewing the ecological impacts of two major conservation problems facing
Tanzania – species overexploitation and habitat loss. Then the possible advantages of traditional cultural practices (compared
to conventional conservation strategies) are outlined. The traditional practices are presented as more cost-effective, more
socially acceptable and having minimal risk of failure. Furthermore, the idea of reviving these practices coincides with the
philosophy of co-management approaches, which advocate sharing of power, rights and responsibilities between the state and
local resource users. This is based on the idea that local communities constitute voices ‘from the ground’ that should be heard.
In showing the efficacy of traditional African cultural practices, the paper specifically focuses on four elements: traditional
institutions, taboos, sacred sites and totemic species.
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Keywords
traditional African cultural practices, traditional institutions, taboos, sacred sites, totemic species, wildlife, conservation, species overexploitation, habitat loss, Tanzania