Browsing by Author "Mugoya, Charles"

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    Community-Based Conservation, Income Governance, and Poverty Alleviation in Tanzania The Case of Serengeti Ecosystem
    (The Journal of Environment & Development, 2013) Mwakaje, Agnes G.; Manyasa, Emmanuel; Wawire, Nelson; Muchai, Muchane; Ongare, David; Mugoya, Charles; Masiga, Clet Wandui; Nikundiwe, Alfeo
    Protected areas occupy about 27% of Tanzania’s land of 945,000 sq km and contribute 17.5% of its GDP. But who benefits from and pays for the cost of conservation? This study provides insights into these issues based on a survey conducted in the Serengeti ecosystem, involving 20 villages in Serengeti and Loliondo. The results show that villagers received insignificant benefits from conservation compared with the costs they are incurring. Governance of income at the village level was also a major challenge. There was a lack of capacity to handle large amounts of money and little or no planning, transparency, and accountability. It is recommended that income allocation to the communities is increased and external audits of village funds are conducted. Communities should furthermore be allowed to extract resources sustainably in protected areas. Youth should be encouraged to attend higher education and wildlife technical colleges to learn about the values of wildlife. Finally, the governance structures
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    Land use practices and their implications on soil macro-fauna in Maasai Mara ecosystem
    (International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation, 2012) Nyawira Muchane, Mary; Karanja, Daniel; Mwangi Wambugu, Geoffrey; Mwangi Mutahi, Joseph; Masiga, Clet Wandui; Mugoya, Charles; Muchai, Muchane
    The composition, abundance, diversity and species richness of soil macro-fauna communities were assessed in four major land use types present within protected and agricultural landscapes in Maasai Mara savannah ecosystem (MME), Kenya. The four land uses were: natural grassland; woodland, inside and outside protected area; maize mono-cropping and maize-bean intercropping systems in adjacent agricultural farms. Sampling of soil macro-fauna was carried out in November, 2009 (short rain), April 2010 (wet rainy season) and September 2010 (dry season). Hand sorting of soil taken from 25 × 25 × 30 cm monoliths was used to extract all soil macro fauna greater than 2 mm body length. A total of 3,658 individuals comprising of 128 species mainly belonging to Phylum Arthropoda distributed across 3 classes and 13 orders, and Phylum Annelida with one order were collected across the four different land use systems. Termites and ants, and to a lesser extent coleopteran and earthworms were the most abundant groups. Significant effects of land use on macro-fauna abundance and species richness in all cases (p<0.001) were observed. There were significant interaction between Season*Region*Land use (p<0.01), Region*Land use (p<0.05) and Region*Protection*Land use (p<0.02). Grassland and woodland had the highest density (1351.61 vs. 2852.47 individual m-2) of total macro-fauna, whilst the lowest density occurred in agricultural land (205.48 individual m-2). Agriculture altered macro-fauna communities by declining individuals from Order Coleoptera, Hymenoptera and isoptera by > 50% and eliminating some Orders/Species. Human related disturbances outside protected area network declined macro-fauna density in grassland and woodland in dry region (65.07 vs. 39.74%) but increased the density by 107 vs. 340% in wet region. The study highlights the important effect of agriculture on macro-fauna communities and the need for conservation alternatives in unprotected areas. This study supports conservation of biodiversity beyond protected area network.