Serengeti General Management Plan

Foreword
The Serengeti National Park is the oldest, largest and best-known National Park in Tanzania,
and over the years it has been at the forefront of international research into ecosystem dynamics
and the development of conservation management approaches. It is therefore very
fitting that this new General Management Plan for the Serengeti is pioneering TANAPA’s revised
strategic planning process.
There are significant management challenges facing the Serengeti National Park and its associated
wildlife and the migration that contribute to the Park’s uniqueness and global importance.
These pressures are arising not just internally from escalating visitor use, but also externally
from expanding human settlement and development in the wider ecosystem, which is
impacting on wildlife dispersal areas as well as on the Mara River and other catchments that
are the lifeblood of the Serengeti. The actions we take in the next ten years to address these
pressures are certain to be critical to conserving those unique aspects of the Serengeti that
we all hold dear, and to our ability to fulfil the pledge of Tanzania’s First President, Mwalimu
Julius Nyerere, to conserve our precious heritage for the benefit of future generations.
To succeed in this endeavour, there is a need for an effective collaboration between all the
stakeholders involved in the management and use of Serengeti National Park. In this regard,
we are very pleased that we have been able to forge such collaboration in the production of
this GMP, through the adoption of a multidisciplinary and consultative approach involving the
diverse stakeholders from within the wider ecosystem. This participation has ensured that all
legitimate concerns are adequately addressed and that an optimal balance between protection
and use of the Park has been established. Some may be disappointed that the GMP
does not provide greater scope for tourism development in the years to come, while others
will feel that the plan has been too lenient in this regard, and that more restrictions are
needed to ensure that the Serengeti’s globally-renowned exceptional resource values are
safeguarded. This is the nature of protected area planning, and we are confident that this
GMP provides the best possible foundation for achieving the management objectives that are
clearly and succinctly laid out throughout the document.
Maximising plan implementation success has been a priority of this plan and close attention
has been given to making the plan as accessible and relevant to SENAPA managers and
their day-to-day activities as possible, as well as to other stakeholders. This has been
achieved by organising the plan by Management Programmes that are directly linked to specific
SENAPA departments. Each Programme has used the “logical framework approach” to
clearly present the Programme objectives and management actions in relation to the management
issues they address. The Management is especially pleased by the introduction of
a new 3-year rolling action planning component, which helps to practically ground the 10year
GMP strategic framework. To accommodate this innovation, the GMP has been produced
in a new loose-leaf binding, to enable the 3-year action plans to be rolled forward and
for new planning sections to be added during the lifespan of this plan. The end result we
hope is a dynamic plan that keeps pace with changing circumstances and management priorities,
not a static document gathering dust on a shelf.
We are confident that the implementation of this plan will enhance the conservation and
management of the Serengeti National Park within the context of the broader ecosystem, at
the same time maintaining the support of all stakeholders. It is therefore with great pleasure
that we entrust the implementation of this GMP to the Chief Park Warden of Serengeti National
Park, his staff, and to all other concerned stakeholders.
G. Bigurube
Director General, Tanzania National Parks
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