Role of institutions in biodiversity conservation in northern Uluguru mountains, Morogoro, Tanzania: The villagers' perspective

To assess the role of institutions in biodiversity conservation, a study was carried out using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and household surveys and interviews. Descriptive statistics were used in data analysis. It was found that a number of Government bodies and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) contribute directly and/or indirectly to biodiversity conservation. Local people do also participate in conservation activities mainly through their village environmental committees, and cultural and traditional beliefs related to natural resources. However, biodiversity conservation is constrained by poor farming methods, uncertainty in land tenure system, unpopularity of the remaining cultural and traditional beliefs and some human-wildlife conflicts. In the face of these drawbacks to conservation, an effective long term biodiversity conservation programme is urgently needed. This should be reconciled with the indigenous resource management system in order for it to be more effective.