Conservation education as an important tool for conservation of the Serengeti Ecosystem

The Serengeti National Park’s Conservation Education Program was established in1992 and has reached tens of thousands of people with the aim of increasing awareness and understanding of the value, threats and sustainable use... [ view full abstract ]

The Serengeti National Park’s Conservation Education Program was established in1992 and has reached tens of thousands of people with the aim of increasing awareness and understanding of the value, threats and sustainable use of the Serengeti Ecosystem’ natural resources. An empirical assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) in a sample of participating villages around Serengeti Ecosystem was carried out in order to assess the outcomes of conservation education and evaluate the program. As park resources are limited there was a need to assess the impact of parks’ Outreach Department programme on Conservation Education to justify continuous funding and strategies used at the same time obtain information that feeds into the newly developed Monitoring and Evaluation plan for the National Park. Data were collected by the Outreach department staff from 15 sampled villages where a total of 305 households were interviewed using Tanzania National Parks standard KAP survey questionnaire. Preliminary survey results indicates that the program should expand its scope to target all age groups and audiences including local government leaders, teachers, students, women and youth groups together with the general community. Furthermore, the data suggested several key issues which the program should focus on, including: the importance of biodiversity; raising awareness of national environmental issues and promoting a concept of responsibility and pride; and building communities capacity to engage in wildlife conservation. We suggest that engaging communities in  surveys and translating the results into a language that is both accessible and of interest to local communities will strengthen communities engagement. The assessment, results and implications for improving the program are discussed and its repeatability elsewhere is assessed. This is important as Serengeti National Park is looking into improving its conservation education programme  targeting specific age groups and linking it to its Visitor information  Center and making it an integral part of the parks’ Monitoring and evaluation plan.