Catalyzing Community Action for Resilient Grasslands
African People & Wildlife’s Sustainable Rangelands Initiative restores northern Tanzania’s grasslands so livestock, wild herbivores, and predators can share shrinking forage. From 2019 to present, the organization has partnered with 50 villages to manage 324,000 ha and actively revive 8,100 ha through invasive-bush removal, erosion control, and flexible, data-led grazing plans. Elected grazing committees and habitat monitors record monthly pasture data on mobile apps; quarterly forums convert real-time evidence into rapid action that keeps corridors open and builds climate resilience.
An IUCN Save Our Species grant (2019-21) accelerated scale-up to 15 new villages, training 30 monitors and adding 253,700 ha under improved management. Using their own data, communities refined grazing zones, cleared 231 ha of invasive plants, and posted signed livestock corridors — showing how timely evidence can turn forage competition into collaborative stewardship.
Impacts
African People & Wildlife’s Sustainable Rangeland Initiative has supported communities in the management of over 800,000 acres of grassland. Spanning across 50 villages in northern Tanzania, the program has actively restored 20,000 acres of grasslands–uprooting invasive and problematic species, and implementing soil erosion prevention. As the program has developed, the village based approach has transitioned to a landscape approach to ensure continuity in management and connectivity for ecological benefits.
Lastly, APW recognizes the efforts of different stakeholders in rangeland management. Since 2020, APW has conducted harmonization meetings that bring together different stakeholders from the village level, wards, divisions, districts, regions, different ministries, parastatal institutions, and NGOs to discuss rangeland management and policy agendas. Our approach has been formally recognized by the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries and will inform future policy–a remarkable accomplishment that ensures the voices of rural pastoralists are included in the natural resource management decisions upon which their lives and livelihoods depend.
