Mtengeti Ephraim J.2026-05-132026-05-132025https://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/20.500.14820/7553Healthy Rangelands for Sustainable Economic Development PP. 35-46Tanzania rangelands covering nearly 50% of the total land mass of 94 mill ha is endowed with a range of natural resources that provide diverse goods and services. Rangelands provide a number of ecosystem services including clean air, consumable products such as red meat, milk, fiber, water and medicinal plants. Also, they non-consumptive services such as recreation and tourism and acts as a carbon dioxide sink and thus sustaining economic development of the country. The rangeland water catchment areas of Tanzania provide water that generates over 55 % of Tanzania’s hydropower. The livestock sector employs about 50% of her population, equivalent to 4.6 million households. The travel and tourism compititiveness index of 2021 by the World Economic Forum ranked Tanzania 1st in Africa and 12th worldwide regarding the quality of its nature- based tourism resources. As a result, tourism value chain contributes nearly 17 % of the country GDP and is a third lagest of direct employement sector with over 850,000 workers. Tourism has been accounted for over one-quater of the country ‘s foreign earnings in 2019, representing USD 2,605 mill. Production of red meat from cattle, goat and sheep by 2023 stood at 544,983.8 metric tons and export was about 4,577.5 tons. Despite the economic benefits of these rangeland resources to the country, they are faced with a number of threats that undermine their productivity, namely: agricultural expansion, deforestation, wildfires, overgrazing and invasive alien species. These threats emanate mainly from the lack of coherent approaches to planning and decision making for sustainable utilization of the available rangeland resources. Haphazard development of water points (dams, pans and boreholes) in wet season and/or dry season grazing areas is an example of malpractice due to improper planning as it attracts spontaneous sedentarization of pastoral communities and year-round grazing that result in rangeland degradation. Exploitation or rationing of rangeland resources to uses or users has in most cases not been based on their availability or condition (healthy) to satisfy needs. Reserved rangeland areas for grazing and wildlife conservation lack nationally organized range reources inventory and monitoring because of the lack of enough employed well trained personel to carry out this valuable task. Sustainable utilization of rangeland resources entail uses that conserve soil, water, desirable plant genetic resources, environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable in terms of grazing animal productivity, and socially acceptable. Thus, sustainable use of rangeland resources requires access to reliable baseline information. Data provided by rangeland resources inventory and monitoring gives a variety of information, including; the distribution, productivity and composition of natural vegetation; rainfall and temperature regimes; edaphic and hydrological data, grazing land utilization and wild and domesticated animals; land tenure and ownership; and socio-economic information and marketing. A thourough interpretation of such information can lead to an informed decision and a guide to appoprate policy and regulation in allocation and use of rangeland resources for sustainable economic development. This paper elaborates the importance of guided rangeland resources use through inventory and monitoring for sustainable economic development in Tanzania.enSustainable utilizationInventory-monitoringUnguided resources useEconomic benefitsArticle