Research Group 1: Evolutionary Ecology
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The Selous-Niassa Project

 

Movement of Elephants and other Wildlife in the Selous-Niassa Wildlife Corridor

H. Hofer, T.B. Hildebrandt, M.L. East, F. Göritz , D. Mpanduji
in association with the Selous Conservation Programme (wildlife-programme.gtz.de/wildlife)




Selous Corridor
  

Miombo forest


The entire corridor (Selous Corridor) between the Selous Wildlife Reserve and the northern Mozambique is threatened by poaching for meat and ivory, habitat degradation due to uncontrolled and destructive wildfires and likely agricultural expansion in the form of tobacco farming and associated increased demand for charcoal for curing. These processes will ultimately prevent the movement of wildlife populations between the Selous Game Reserve and Niassa Game Reserve, leading to the genetic isolation of wildlife populations and thus increase the potential for inbreeding and the chance of population extinctions in both reserves. Also conflicts of elephants and other wildlife with local people, particularly farmers, are likely to increase substantially.



Donald Mpanduji and ranger with poacher snare

Currently, very little is known about species diversity, migratory movements, population structure and health status of larger mammals in the Selous Corridor. The research project will investigate these issues to determine the ecological importance of the corridor and its spatial expansion. The collected information supports the plan of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism in Tanzania to achieve a protection for the corridor through a new conservation initiative and thereby maintain its ecological function.

A long-term development cooperation project, the Selous Conservation Programme (SCP), is being implemented by the GTZ and the Wildlife Division of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism in buffer zones surrounding the Selous Game Reserve. This work has been extended into the northern part of the Selous-Niassa Wildlife Corridor as a series of Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) that are managed by local villages as part of the Selous Game Reserve's bufferzone project guided by the Wildlife Division and the SCP/GTZ.


A development cooperation project to protect and manage the southern part of the corridor through a network of village WMAs is currently being planned, The goal of the project is to protect the wildlife corridor by having the local communities participate in and benefit from sustainable utilization (annual hunting quota for legal supply of game meat, and income from photo or hunting tourism).