221 6 Conservation for Whose Benefit? Challenges and Opportunities for Management of Mkomazi Game Reserve, Tanzania Gimbage E. Mbeyale 1 and Alexander N. Songorwa 2 Abstract The Mkomazi Game Reserve (MGR) 3 in north-eastern Tanzania is a protected area where different social groups are involved in contest for natural resourc- es. The main groups include pastoralists, who have used Mkomazi as their grazing area for over 100 years, and agro-pastoralists and agriculturalists living in villages bordering the reserve, whose farmlands were taken fol- lowing the government’s order to expand MGR. Using MGR as a case study, we examine and discuss how the fortress approach to conservation has led to management problems. We present an overview of conflicts between the MGR authorities and communities, analyse strategies used to deal with the situation and discuss the different ideologies involved (protection of pris- tine Africa, Maasai claims to pastureland, Pare farmers’ claims to land for cultivation, various arguments: that the reserve destroys livelihood assets instead of strengthening them, that conflicts between pastoralists and farm- ers occur because of the reserve, and that the game reserve is a cultural, not a natural landscape). We examine the environment within which resource use conflicts have occurred and persisted over the years, discuss the eco- logical, climatic and socio-economic constraints that the communities and MGR authorities are facing, and look at opportunities available for sustain- able resource utilisation. On one hand this is a successful story of fortress conservation. There is proof of increasing bird numbers and improvement in vegetation cover. However, this at in the expense of livelihood security of the local population. We recommend alternative conservation pathways that adopt new participatory conservation approaches instead of the fortress approach currently implemented in MGR. Keywords: Fortress conservation, conservation benefits, conservation authorities and local communities, management challenges, Mkomazi Game Reserve, Tanzania.