Institution: SUNY at Binghamton PI Little / Lama ________________________________________________________________
This project supports the dissertation research of a student from the State University of New York at Binghamton, exploring the causes behind changing land use activities among herders and farmers in a wildlife area of Tanzania, Africa. The project will try to understand how human activities in the wildlife area impact on the wildlife movements (wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, elephant, giraffe, and others), blocking them out of some areas and channeling them into others. Using aerial photography, data from remote sensing, and ethnographic survey and interview methods, the student will document the changes in land use in the wild life area over time, identify the people using new land use practices, and predict the impact of land use restrictions on human behavior and through that, onto the area wildlife. This research is important because Africa is one of the last areas of major wildlife forms. The shrinking areas devoted to wildlife must be protected, but the local populations' needs for subsistence must be understood and dealt with; otherwise any conservation plans will be frustrated. This sort of project will produce valuable information to help planners manage these unique and valuable resources.
