Local communities and the new environmental planning: a case study from Zanzibar

Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing a new round of conservation initiatives, based around democratized local institutions and local knowledge of the environment. This essay uses political ecology research from a case study settlement in the Zanzibar islands of Tanzania to interrogate how to create the enabling conditions for these new conservation programmes. The case study highlights the importance of understanding social and political issues at the local scale for appreciating the problematic trajectories of progressive environmental planning strategies in Africa in the context of democratization.