Diane Lorraine Douglas

The proposed workshop, will take place in 2025 in Tanzania’s capital city, Dodoma. It stems from a Wenner Gren funded workshop held in Zanzibar in August 2022 that explored the frequent failure of Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) and Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) to consider the impacts of development and conservation projects on IPLCs and their heritage in East Africa. The chief objective of the Dodoma workshop will be to advance economic development, sustainable tourism, and conservation in Tanzania, while also respecting the rights, needs, and worldviews of Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs). The workshop will explore how to decolonize the process of heritage management through co-management and co-stewardship practices. Workshop participants will include three African scholars, up to six Tanzanian government representatives (exact number will depend on availability), four representatives from CBOs and NGOs, and three international consultants and facilitators. We will respond to calls by Tanzanian scholars to: 1) determine how management of natural/cultural heritage can better align with IPLCs relations to these categories; 2) create guidelines for how IPLCs can fully participate in Environmental Governance and heritage management; and 2) recommend standards and guidelines for the participation of IPLCs as partners in EIR/ESIA processes.