Our involvement in the New Partnerships for Sustainability (NEPSUS) project in 2019 included creating short documentaries about the project. Being part of the NEPSUS team allowed our creative team to learn more about natural resource management, specifically forestry, coastal resources, and wildlife.
Based in Tanzania, the NEPSUS project aims to explore the development of complex partnerships in natural resource management and determine whether and how they lead to improved and more equitable sustainability outcomes compared to simpler partnership models.
The NEPSUS project aims to analyze governance partnerships in forestry, coastal resources, and wildlife in Tanzania. Tanzania is an ideal case study due to its management of all three resource systems under different partnership structures. By focusing on one country, we reduce variations in government contexts and frameworks. Additionally, all cases in Tanzania have a similar transition from centralized to decentralized management approaches that emerged in the late 1990s.
While the case studies may involve different resource types and actors, the goals of all partnerships are similar: to achieve environmental and livelihood benefits while enhancing natural resource governance at the local level. We select sites for each resource type that are comparable in terms of socio-economic, ecological, and political factors to minimize variability and understand how complexity impacts sustainability outcomes. We also collect and analyze data on context, processes, and legitimacy to establish a nuanced relationship between complexity and outcomes.
“Think about what it is like when people and elephants have to share the same food, water, and living space. Sometimes, food that is palatable for people is also appealing to elephants and other wild animals such as buffalos, baboons, monkeys, and warthogs. In other cases, people or their livestock become prey for animals too”.
“In recent years, in many parts of the global south, conservation policies and activities of various actors have been aimed at establishing a future with ecological and livelihood sustainability outcomes. This has created a context in which different types of conservation partnerships have emerged”.
This is part of the content of the produced documentaries. We are proud to produce such high-quality work in terms of content, especially considering that the field footage was not enough to create a complete story with quality visuals.
Tourism Innovation Hub (TIHUB) Moshi - Tanzania