Viability assessment of the Wami-Mbiki Game Reserve to Nyerere National Park wildlife corridor in southern Tanzania

Wildlife corridors are critical for the effective conservation of wildlife and for enhancing ecosystem services. Unfortunately, increased human pressure has increased the risk of species extinction in wildlife corridors. Studies on wildlife corridor connectivity have always used Geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) without information from ground surveys thus lacking comprehensive conclusions for effective management. We assessed wildlife corridor connectivity between the Wami-Mbiki Game Reserve–Nyerere National Park (WMGR-NYENAPA) in Tanzania, using a combination of ground transect surveys, RS, and GIS. Overall, the RS and GIS showed a decline in the woody cover types over the past 40 years. Forest and woodland declined by 9% and 17% respectively between 1980 and 2020. Conversely, the land conversions namely agriculture and settlement increased by 4.7% and 0.1%, respectively. The spatial distribution of the twenty-two (22) wildlife species recorded using ground surveys was negatively affected by increasing land conversions. Although plant diversity to support wildlife survival was abundant, suggesting the suitability of the corridor for wildlife, elephant movements were severed as one might predict in a degraded corridor. We urge protecting the remaining corridor area. We further recommend a combination of actions to secure the remaining part of the corridor including enforcement of existing land use regulations that restrict land clearance, improving cross-sectoral dialogues on sustainable conservation by harmonizing conflicting legislation between conservation and land development, formulating a specific organ with the mandate to manage cross-cutting issues on wildlife corridors and introducing community conservation education and awareness through extension programs on poaching, sustainable utilization of natural land resources including REDD+ programs and adoption of alternative income source activities.