Seaweed and/or Tourists? Studying Conflicts over Natural Resource Use in East Zanzibar

Abstract

"In this paper we will outline our questions and methodology for a fieldwork in East Zanzibar during 2001 and 2002. The purpose of the project is to study conflicts over natural resource use between people engaged in two different and contrasting sectors of development on the east coast of Zanzibar. Increasing tourism has led to an industry, which lays exclusive claim to the use of land and water resources. It is an industry dominated by men and capital from outside the local community. In sharp contrast to this there is today a large, women managed, production of commercial algae in coastal waters, which is sold on the world market. The main conflicts are about land use and property rights to the beach and its waters, as well as to scarce fresh water sources. But this is also a conflict between very different ways of organizing production and subsistence in the local community with roots in a traditional setting of coral rag agriculture and fishing, which is now partly abandoned. To a large extent this is a gendered conflict. The specific aim is to investigate in detail how these conflicts are experienced and handled by members of the local community, the national elite and international actors involved in these sectors. The emphasis is on the local level, but the project will also study the ways in which these problems are linked to a wider context. The project will trace existing attempts at resolving these conflicts and explore new ways to ensure a socially and environmentally sustainable development. On a more theoretical level the project tries to contribute to contemporary knowledge, both of the management of common property resources and of the impact of tourism on local development in the Third World."