Negotiation on Biodiversity Conservation and its Future Prospects: Evidence from Tanzania’s Burunge Wildlife Management Area

This study was carried out in order to understand negotiation amongst actors in the Burunge Wildlife Management Area (BWMA) in Tanzania. It adopted a qualitative approach of negotiation amongst the diverse actors involved, who have different roles and interests, in conservation policy interventions. Firstly, results show that negotiation processes during awareness campaigns amongst the communities targeted lacked consensus because of inadequate information. Secondly, without clear positioning on the share of resources and land rights, notably taking future changes into consideration, unintended and undesirable outcomes occurred. The study concludes that the overall negotiation made lacked an appropriate platform for consensus to be reached, leaving aside the interests of the local communities. Therefore, it recommends that for the future endurance of wildlife management areas in general, negotiation amongst actors should be explicit, with a clear platform on agreed terms.