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Abstract:
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"As funding for international conservation initiatives has shifted away from directly supporting developing states towards privatisation and decentralisation in natural resource management, developing countries are working increasingly through international NGOs and private sector organisations to support protected areas. The government of Zanzibar has come up with an innovative system to guarantee access to international funds through its Environmental Management for Sustainable Development Act. This Act strategically enables external organisations to be designated as protected area managers while maintaining a role for the state as an intermediary in reaching local communities. The positive outcome is that it allows protected areas to be established when government resources are limited, but it also establishes a dynamic where the states struggle to maintain power and relevance has negative implications for programme outcomes and sustainability. In the case of Zanzibars marine protected areas, this system results in many challenges, including confusion over the links between conservation and development objectives, the limitations of ecotourism as a development strategy, the uneven concentration of programme resources, a lack of institutional investment in protected area programmes, and the negative implications for local capacity building if in future the state could be threatened by a strong civil society. More attention must be given to acknowledging the role played by the Zanzibari state, as well as strengthening local initiatives for natural resource protection."
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