Sustaining indigenous Maasai Alalili silvo-pastoral conservation systems for improved community livelihood and biodiversity conservation in East African rangelands

to the Local Government (District Authorities) Act Cap. 287 and the Land Tenure (Village Set- tlements) Act No. 27 of 1965 [58]. Reserved land refers to the land that is purposely utilized for fortification and conservation of biodiversity and its associated resources which are pro- foundly controlled by the State [56, 59]. These are comprised of strictly protected areas (PAs) such as national parks and game reserves (forestry and nature reserves) [60]. They are also comprised of non-strictly PAs such as the Ngorongoro conservation area, game-controlled areas, game-open areas, and wildlife management areas as defined in the Wildlife Conserva- tion Act of 1974[Cap. 283] and wildlife policy endorsed in 1988 [60, 61]. National parks and game reserves are defined as strictly protected areas whereby no activi- ties other than wildlife conservation and game viewing are allowed [59, 62]. Ngorongoro Con- servation Area (NCA) is an area dedicated to multiple land uses including Maasai culture and tradition conservation, livestock grazing by pastoral communities, and temporary residence thus forming a peaceful co-existence with wildlife [56, 59]. However, in NCA villages are not permanently allowed to own the land, but rather, land tenure is generally devoted to the man- aging authority; the NCAA [61, 63]. A game-controlled area (GCA) refers to a type of pro- tected area whereby a village’s land and resource use other than wildlife conservation is restricted by the law [59, 64]. Activities such as settlements, crop cultivation, and mining are

restricted while livestock grazing and wildlife hunting can only be acceptable under license or written permission of the managing authority [59]. Wildlife management area (WMA) refers to an area established with regard to initiatives of implementing a community-based conserva- tion of natural resources [59, 65]. The gazettement of WMA is done with the main purpose of securing wildlife buffer areas outside core protected areas, which are used by local community members and within the village land [59, 65]. In contrast to GCA, WMA comprises the por- tion of a village land through which communities have equitable access to the distribution of benefits from enterprises aimed at promoting wildlife conservation, enhancing economic development, and poverty reduction [56, 59, 65]. Therefore, being conducted in Alalili systems that form part of rangelands in northern Tan- zania, the study covered two main land uses, i.e., protected areas vested to reserved land (com- prised of WMA, GCA, NCA, national parks, and game reserves) and unprotected open areas vested to village land [66]. It considered Alalili systems located within or adjacent to reserved land and unprotected open areas predominantly utilized for pastoralism. For this study, unprotected open areas under the occupation of village lands will be termed “open areas” from now onwards. It is from these land use categories, the northern Tanzania regions for this study were clustered and mapped to capture Alalili systems that are practiced for grazing activities

by the Maasai pastoral communities. The existence of Alalili systems in rangelands within studied land uses was approved by the government authorities. 2.3 Ethics statement Access to Alalili systems in the studied land use categories received an approval from the Tan- zanian Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) (permit number 2022-222-NA- 2022-005 dated 20th April, 2022), Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism through Tanza- nia Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) (permit number TWRI/RS/22“G”/21 dated 22nd April 2022), Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority (TAWA) (permit number AE.542/712/ 01 dated 10th May 2022), and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA) (permit number BD.158/711/01-B/100 dated 09th May 2022). Permission for research in communities was obtained from relevant local and district authorities. PLOS ONE Sustaining Alalili systems in rangelands of East Africa PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303649 May 16, 2024 5 / 24