Total Economic Values of Tourist Hunting Blocks in Tanzania

Abstract

This chapter is based on the findings of a study that was conducted in 12 tourist hunting blocks (HBs) in Tanzania. The aim of the study was to evaluate the total economic values (TEV) of the HBs to inform the decision of auctioning to potential hunting companies and sustainable utilization and conservation of the blocks. For each of the 12 HBs, the study estimated the TEV and its five individual components namely; the direct use values (DUV), indirect use values (IUV), option/quasi-option values (OV), existence values, as well as, the bequest values (BV). The values were estimated using the Analytic Multicriteria Valuation Method (AMUVAM). The TEV and its components were estimated using a time horizon of 10 years (the mean tenure for a winning hunting company). The results show that the average TEV of HBs was USD 93,981,422 with the minimum and maximum TEV amounting to USD 6,215,588 to USD 653,470,695 per hunting block respectively. Of the five components of TEV, the bequest values (BV) constituted the largest proportion (about 50% of TEV), followed by the existence values (EV) (19%), option/quasi-option values (OV) (12%), and indirect use values (IUV) (10%). The direct use values or DUV (i.e. the values of hunting and photographic tourism) constituted only 1% of TEV. The EV of HBs ranged from USD 632,210 to the maximum of USD 125,147,285 and the average was USD 17,625,305. The cultural heritage values (CHV) constituted the largest component of EV (about 50%), followed by the aesthetic enjoyment values (AEV) (27%), and biodiversity conservation values (BDV) (23%). The study emphasises the importance of using a thorough understanding of human values to inform decisions about how to devote ecosystems, like HBs, to both direct and indirect purposes. We also advocate enhancing the skills of the personnel responsible for managing and allocating the use of these ecosystems so they can conduct economic assessments of ecosystems using both basic and sophisticated analytical tools, such as geographic information systems (GIS), relational databases, and globally accessible websites-based tools like InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs), ARIES (Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services), and Costing Nature.