Human Migration, Protected Areas, and Conservation Outreach in Tanzania

• Published in: Conservation biology Vol. 28; no. 3; pp. 841 - 850
• Main Authors: SALERNO, JONATHAN D, MULDER, MONIQUE BORGERHOFF, KEFAUVER, SHAWN C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, NJ Blackwell Science, Inc 01.06.2014; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Wiley Periodicals Inc; Wiley-Blackwell
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Behavioral sciences; Biodiversity conservation; Biological and medical sciences; community-based conservation; conservación basada en la comunidad; conservation areas; Conservation biology; Conservation of Natural Resources; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Contributed Papers; crecimiento de la población; Demecology; Demography; East Africa; Fertility rates; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Geography; Human Migration; Humans; Information Dissemination; issues and policy; Land productivity; Mathematical models; migrantes rurales; Migration; Models, Theoretical; National parks; outreach; Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking; parques nacionales; Population density; Population Dynamics; population growth; Population growth rate; Protected areas; Rural areas; rural migrants; Tanzania; tropics; vegetation; África Oriental; Tanzania; Sub-Saharan Africa; East Africa; Africa; Human; rural migrants; Population growth; Rural environment; Tropical zone; Migration; Conservation; Protected area; National park; Migratory; community-based conservation; Community; East Africa; Environmental protection; national parks; África Oriental; parques nacionales; crecimiento de la población; migrantes rurales; conservación basada en la comunidad; population growth
• ISSN: 0888-8892; 1523-1739
• DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12237

A recent discussion debates the extent of human in‐migration around protected areas (PAs) in the tropics. One proposed argument is that rural migrants move to bordering areas to access conservation outreach benefits. A counter proposal maintains that PAs have largely negative effects on local populations and that outreach initiatives even if successful present insufficient benefits to drive in‐migration. Using data from Tanzania, we examined merits of statistical tests and spatial methods used previously to evaluate migration near PAs and applied hierarchical modeling with appropriate controls for demographic and geographic factors to advance the debate. Areas bordering national parks in Tanzania did not have elevated rates of in‐migration. Low baseline population density and high vegetation productivity with low interannual variation rather than conservation outreach explained observed migration patterns. More generally we argue that to produce results of conservation policy significance, analyses must be conducted at appropriate scales, and we caution against use of demographic data without appropriate controls when drawing conclusions about migration dynamics. La Migración Humana, Áreas Protegidas y el Alcance de la Conservación en Tanzania