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Wildlife Corridors on the Brink: Climate Change and Tanzania's Conservation Challenge

The climate crisis is accelerating at an alarming rate, with devastating consequences for biodiversity, ecosystems, and the communities that depend on them. While global commitments such as the Paris Agreement aim to mitigate these effects, their implementation remains fragile, jeopardized by insufficient climate finance and wavering political will. Communities and wildlife around the world are suffering increasingly devastating extreme climate-driven disasters, any action to wreck international climate policies will be counterproductive.

© Nyumbani/wwftanzania
Floods in Dar city

One significant threat to international climate action is the potential withdrawal of key players from agreements such as the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The threat of a U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the most significant global effort to tackle climate change in history, and the UNFCCC, the international treaty responsible for coordinating global climate action and setting agendas such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, could erode trust in global climate action and leave the crucial treaty scrambling for funding. While it takes a full year for a country to exit the agreement after announcing its intentions, according to climate experts, the decision will impact how these discussions progress over the next year and set the groundwork for the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP30, in November 2025.

Financial and Policy Challenges in Tackling Climate Change
Pulling out of UNFCCC is considered more complicated than the Paris Agreement but it remains unclear about what it would require. Equally, the U.S. Constitution doesn’t mention leaving treaties but joining them requires two-thirds of the Senate. It is also unclear what would be required to rejoin. Unfortunately, this is coming at a time when the foundations of international climate diplomacy are on uncertain ground following an overall disappointing climate finance commitment at COP29 in Azerbaijan last November 2024.

The United States, historically the world’s largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, has a disproportionate responsibility to both cut its emissions sharply and contribute finance to help lower-income nations address climate change. Yet its wavering commitment undermines global efforts, leaving the UNFCCC, which the U.S. funds significantly, scrambling for resources. The United States currently contributes about one-quarter of the total UNFCCC budget, providing over $7 million in 2024 to an overall budget of $34 million, and if it opts to exit, the UNFCCC, which is already facing budget challenges, will be left scrambling for funding while it’s hard to know what the overall financial ramifications will be.

Already, financial gaps are visible, with regional climate programming cut back, while the $300 billion annual global climate finance target remains out of reach. The international community must also step up to fulfill financial commitments to support climate-vulnerable regions. As countries work toward the goals of the Paris Agreement, including restoring 30% of degraded terrestrial ecosystems by 2030, securing wildlife corridors should be prioritized as a tangible strategy to combat climate change and biodiversity loss.
 

© Ernest Ndoika/WWF Tanzania
Wildlife

The Local Impact: Tanzania’s Shrinking Wildlife Corridors
As global temperatures creep closer to sustained increases of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, fragile ecosystems are collapsing under the weight of prolonged droughts, erratic weather patterns, and habitat degradation. Globally, for the first time, 2024 marked the average global temperatures exceeding the symbolic limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold above preindustrial levels, signaling the urgency of climate action. That does not mean the world has surpassed the Paris Agreement goal, which refers to long-term temperature trends and sustained warming over decades, but it does suggest that it’s getting closer.

Wildlife corridors are essential not only for species survival but also for maintaining ecosystem services, such as water regulation and carbon sequestration, which benefit both humans and nature. However, the degradation of these corridors, coupled with increasing human-wildlife conflict, underscores the need for immediate intervention. Tanzania's wildlife corridors are under immense pressure due to rising global temperatures, prolonged droughts, and habitat degradation. Once expansive pathways that allowed elephants and other wildlife to move between critical habitats are now shrinking due to land-use changes, agricultural expansion, and human settlement. These pressures are exacerbated by climate-driven factors such as the proliferation of invasive species and reduced availability of water and forage.

© Ernest Ndoika/WWF Tanzania
Wildlife

Kitenden Corridor: A Case Study of Crisis and Opportunity
For instance, in Tanzania, the Kitenden Corridor—the lifeline for over 2,500 elephants in the West Kilimanjaro-Amboseli sub-landscape—is facing severe encroachment. Once spanning 20 kilometers in width, the corridor has shrunk by 70% due to agricultural expansion, human settlement, and the impacts of climate change. Forming part of the Southern Kenya-Northern Tanzania (SOKNOT) transboundary landscape, the Kitenden Corridor—a crucial dry-season refuge—is narrowing at an alarming rate. Over the past 15 years, elephant use of this corridor has plummeted, reflecting the devastating impacts of habitat loss and climate variability. Tanzania's commitment to safeguarding its wildlife corridors in collaboration with conservation organizations like WWF, STEP, AWF, etc, provides a model for the region and the world. By fostering transboundary cooperation, promoting sustainable land-use practices, and investing in climate adaptation measures, we can ensure that wildlife corridors remain lifelines for biodiversity and resilient ecosystems. The stakes are high, but the solutions are within reach if we act decisively and collectively.

Wildlife Corridors, Ecosystem Services, and Global Frameworks
The loss of such critical corridors poses a dual threat. It disrupts the migration patterns essential for wildlife survival and reduces ecosystem services like carbon sequestration, water regulation, and soil health—key pillars for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 15 (Life on Land), and SDG 1 (No Poverty). It also undermines the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which sets ambitious targets, including restoring 30% of degraded terrestrial ecosystems by 2030 and ensuring the connectivity of natural habitats.
In the Amboseli–Tsavo ecosystems, for instance, climate impacts have already led to over 1,800 elephant deaths since 2009. Prolonged droughts, exacerbated by rising global temperatures, have depleted water sources, degraded vegetation, and triggered human-wildlife conflict (HEC). These changes threaten both biodiversity and local communities who depend on healthy ecosystems.

© Ernest Ndoika/WWF Tanzania
African Elephants

Community-Driven Solutions: A Path Forward
To combat these challenges, WWF Tanzania is pioneering innovative, community-driven approaches, such as the Wildlife Credit Scheme. This initiative incentivizes local communities to restore and protect habitats, offering a sustainable pathway to coexistence between people and wildlife while improving livelihoods. By integrating nature-based solutions—like agroecology, regenerative agriculture, and biodiversity credits—into conservation and agricultural landscapes, the project aligns with the GBF's objectives of sustainable land use, biodiversity restoration, and ecological resilience. Securing these corridors, therefore, requires innovative, nature-based solutions that align with global biodiversity frameworks. Integrating such programs into broader conservation efforts can help address the dual challenges of biodiversity loss and climate resilience.

Reaffirming the Role of Global Climate Diplomacy
International climate diplomacy remains critical to supporting such efforts. While political instability threatens to erode trust in multilateral agreements, the Paris Agreement and UNFCCC must remain the engines of global climate action. Countries must recommit to their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and strengthen financial commitments to mechanisms like the Green Climate Fund.
The stakes could not be higher. Without decisive action, the combined impacts of climate change, habitat loss, and human-wildlife conflict will push biodiversity, and the communities that depend on it, to the brink. Safeguarding wildlife corridors like Kitenden is not just a local priority but a global imperative—one that ensures both nature and people thrive in the face of climate uncertainty. Time to take action is Now!

Dr. Noah Sitati Photo
Dr. Noah Sitati, SOKNOT Landscape Tanzania Lead