Where do future pathways lead Kilombero?
The Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) is a 20 year agricultural commercialisation initiative launched by the World Economic Forum in 2010, with the ultimate goal of enhancing agricultural productivity, food security, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability.
The corridor runs through Tanzania’s Kilombero district, an incredibly fertile and biodiverse area with a future that encompasses many sustainable development challenges and opportunities. In light of these opportunities, on June 19-21, the University of York, Sokoine University of Agriculture and the Development Corridors Partnership and the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre collaborated to host a workshop to develop and map future land use and scenarios surrounding the SAGCOT development corridor in Kilombero.
Jessica Thorn discussing the KESHO framework
A diverse audience of local NGO workers, conservationists, government officials, private sector representatives and researchers were brought together at this workshop in Ifakara. University of York’s Jessica Thorn masterfully led an intensive three days of scenario analysis exercises, with Rebecca Kariuki, Anna Shoemaker and Hamidu Seki acting as facilitators. The KESHO framework was used to combine geospatial datasets with different stakeholder views on the drivers and nature of land use change in the Kilombero valley. We assessed diverse, plausible trajectories of change pertaining to ecosystem services, biodiversity, natural capital, social cohesion, livelihoods, infrastructure, land cover and land uses.
