Land-Use Planning, Digital Technologies, and Environmental Conservation in Tanzania

Participatory land-use planning (LUP) is often promoted as a solution to various environment-related challenges. In Tanzania, planning processes often represent a stage in the conversion of village lands to different uses, such as wildlife conservation or large-scale farming. LUP in Tanzania is frequently dominated by powerful local, national, or international elites, resulting in loss of rights over village land despite the opposition of many villagers. Contemporary planning involves digital technologies such as global positioning system units, which enable easier storage and sharing of geospatial data. Using assemblage theory, and based on key informant interviews conducted in Arusha and Kilimanjaro Regions of Tanzania in 2015, this article shows that LUP, particularly when it involves digital technologies, is used to not only to change land uses but also to strengthen linkages between different organizations, reinforce certain narratives of environmental change, and legitimize particular forms of external intervention.