The Development of Payments for Ecosystem Services as a Community-Based Conservation Strategy in East Africa

 This paper explores the development of a pilot PES scheme in the Tarangire ecosystem of Tanzania in response to specifi c wildlife declines and policy constraints. It charts the development of this initiative from its genesis based on PES experiences in Kenya. This paper specifi cally explores the questions of whether the utilization of free-market enterprise tools to achieve conservation goals infl uences Maasai livelihood diversifi cation in ways that are compatible with conservation. If provided with more options for diversifying their income through wildlife and livestock herding, will Tanzanian villagers protect wildlife corridors and exhibit behavior that is more conservation friendly?