Community-Based Natural Resource Management: A Comparative Analysis of Devolved Wildlife Governance in Zambia and Tanzania

Author

• Christopher MacfarlaneFollow

Year of Award

2026

Document Type

Professional Paper

Degree Type

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Name

Resource Conservation (International Conservation and Development)

Department or School/College

W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation

Committee Chair

Jennifer Thomsen

Commitee Members

Keith Bosak, Fernando Sanchez, Agnes Sirima

Keywords

CBNRM, conservation and development, Tanzania, Zambia, governance

Subject Categories

African Studies | Development Studies | Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation

Abstract

This professional paper presents a comparative case study of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in Zambia’s Game Management Area (GMA) system and Tanzania’s Wildlife Management Area (WMA) system. Addressing the research question of how the governance of these two systems shape CBNRM, the study draws on legal texts, NGO reports, and peer-reviewed literature, analyzed through a comparative framework focused on conservation ethos, governance structure, and collaborative process. The analysis finds that although both Zambia’s Wildlife Act of 2015 and Tanzania’s Wildlife Conservation Act of 2022 formally institutionalize community participation in wildlife governance, meaningful authority over conservation finance, land-use planning, and tourism investment remains concentrated within state institutions, donors, and external conservation actors in both countries. Zambia’s hybrid governance model, which integrates customary chieftaincy structures with statutory Community Resource Boards, provides greater local flexibility and legitimacy than Tanzania’s more centralized, bureaucratically mediated Authorized Association system, but both frameworks exhibit incomplete devolution, elite capture, and heavy dependence on donor and tourism financing. At the same time, both systems produced measurable ecological and institutional gains: Tanzania’s WMAs contributed to anti-poaching efforts and ecological corridor protection, while Zambia’s GMAs expanded participatory land-use planning and community representation through institutions such as the Zambia Community Resource Board Association. The contraction of USAID-supported conservation financing has exposed the structural vulnerability of both systems to donor withdrawal, underscoring the study’s central conclusion: that community participation alone is insufficient to sustain long-term conservation legitimacy without meaningful local authority, fiscal autonomy, and equitable benefit-sharing. These findings contribute to broader debates in international conservation and development regarding decentralization, political ecology, and the future of donor-dependent conservation governance in Africa.

Recommended Citation

Macfarlane, Christopher, "Community-Based Natural Resource Management: A Comparative Analysis of Devolved Wildlife Governance in Zambia and Tanzania" (2026). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 12760.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12760