'Serengeti shall not die': Can the ambition be sustained?

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Abstract
Serengeti, a World Heritage Site and a Biosphere Reserve, is increasingly being threatened by human factors, which undermine its natural resource base and, therefore, contradict the ambition contained in Grzimeks' popular book 'Serengeti Shall Not Die'. We discuss five forces against the ambition: rapid human population growth, poverty, illegal hunting, habitat destruction, and wildlife diseases. We also review some of the current strategies adopted in view of pre-empting the negative outcomes resulting from these forces by pointing out their deficiencies. We conclude that, although human population growth and poverty are underlying factors threatening the Ecosystem, the current mitigative strategies barely address them adequately. We, therefore, recommend that, for Grzimeks' ambition to remain valid, the two factors should take priority. We also call for more research to establish the reasons making people exhibit unsustainable behaviours toward the resources. We further suggest learning from past mistakes in view of correcting the identified deficiencies. Support in the form of alternative sustainable livelihood strategies and discouraging all ecologically destructive policies are equally important. Drawing from experience of the Kenyan part of the Ecosystem we suggest banning of land privatization, commercial agriculture and other development policies conflicting with conservation interests around Serengeti National Park.

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