PASTORAL communities in ten villages of Longido and Ngorongoro districts in Arusha Region are set to benefit from an inclusive conservation project geared at overcoming impacts of climate change.

The “Inclusive Conservation Initiative” (ICI) billed at $1.4m (3bn/-) is supported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), seeking to protect water sources and nature restoration in and around the villages.

Ng’walu Kidayi, the IUCN programme officer, said yesterday that the project is designed to improve the lives of pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and hunter-gatherer communities in the districts.

The objective is to empower them to sustainably manage the natural resources on which their livelihoods depend and benefit from the effort, he said.

ICI is expected to legally secure communal village lands for indigenous communities in three biodiverse landscapes by participatory land use planning and land tenure mechanisms, he said.

Marko Ng’umbi, the Longido district commissioner, said that the district has 49 villages and all of them have been surveyed, easing efforts to implement the project.

Jamboi Baramayesu, coordinator of the Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT), an activist group in the area, said the project will also help residents to develop sustainable natural resource-based income generating activities.

The project serves three clusters, namely Lake Natron and Longido West, Lake Eyasi and Yeada Basin cluster, as well as Simanjiro and Kiteto cluster.

Richard Mollel, a villager, said the project was friendly to them and will greatly help them improve their lives while protecting nature.

Hellena John, also a resident, said the initiative will stimulate environmental conservation in the villages and enable them to work in a cooperative waysto positively benefit from natural resources.