Pastoral Resource Management Institutions in Northern Tanzania

Abstract

"This paper aims to provide a theoretical framework for examining the use and management of common pool, rangeland resources by stock keeping groups in Tanzania. Such resource use regimes are driven by a wide variety of factors. These can range from local, indigenous environmental knowledge to the impact of international aid and development organizations. The number and diversity of factors affecting pastoral resource use regimes requires the construction of a coherent theoretical framework so that these various factors can be cataloged and their relative impact evaluated.

"This paper argues that the best approach to this conceptual requirement is the construction of a hierarchical model of the various social, political, and economic institutions, organizations, and meta-institutions which ultimately affect resource use decisions at the level of indigenous resource management institutions. The use of a hierarchical approach allows the elements of the various levels involved to be differentiated, and the nature of the connections between the levels to be evaluated. The natural environment, in this case the arid and semi-arid savanna of northern Tanzania, is also an important element of the model. The primary aim of this model is examine the horizontal and vertical linkages between its various levels and elements. These linkages transmit constraints and opportunities to adjacent and lower-level actors. The result is a framework which, while not totally deterministic, does play a large role structuring the possibilities of individual choice and institutional change.

"In order to demonstrate the utility of this model, three northern Tanzanian pastoral or agro-pastoral groups will be comparatively evaluated. These are the Kuria of the eastern Mara Region, the Maasai of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and Barabaig of the Hanang District. Each of these groups face slightly different external economic, political, and social forces. As such they illustrate well different aspects of the model. Vertical elements, the Tanzanian state and international actors, are critical in the cases of the Maasai and the Barabaig, while horizontal forces, the immigration of the Sukuma from areas to the south, are more important in the case of the Kuria."