Although the MMNR forms a keystone of the greater
Mara-Serengeti Ecosystem, a large part of the
ecosystem
is located in Tanzania, mainly within the
Serengeti National Park (SNP) directly to the south of
the
MMNR. The management approaches and activities
that are implemented in the SNP are likely to have
a
significant impact on the MMNR, and vice
versa. This is perhaps most evident with regard to the
ecological
aspects of both areas’ management, such as
controlled burning programmes and their impacts on animal
distribution,
and regarding anti-poaching operations, which in
turn impact on the amount of cross-border
poaching that the MMNR, and in particular the Mara
Triangle, experience.
As a result of these interdependencies, the
establishment and maintenance of a strong collaboration
between
the managers of the MMNR and those of the SNP is a
high priority under this management programme.
As
a first step towards achieving this collaboration,
bi-annual meetings between MMNR and SNP managers
will
be organised. One of the first tasks of these
meetings will be to establish and/or formalise
communication
systems and cooperation protocols between the
managers of the two areas. As with the internal
MMNR
management meetings, these cross-border meetings
will provide a forum where synergies and
complementarities
between management approaches can be optimised and
issues of mutual concern addressed. This action
aligns well with the actions under Objective 4 of
the current Serengeti National Park Management
Plan
2006-16, which focuses on improving transboundary
collaboration.
