- The popular Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar is further expanding its already extensive tourism footprint to outlying islands like Pemba without considering the environment, a new op-ed argues.
- Major conservation problems include demolition of small islands for resort construction, destruction of nearly a quarter of Pemba Island’s flagship protected area to build an “eco-resort,” and plans to develop the ecologically important islet of Misali.
- “Now is the time for Zanzibar’s government to reexamine past and future investment decisions to ensure they respect Zanzibar’s natural heritage and conserve it for future generations,” the author writes.
- This post is a commentary. The views expressed are those of the author, not necessarily of Mongabay.
Zanzibar has a reputation as an island paradise in the Indian Ocean. Lying 20 kilometers (12 miles) off the East African mainland, it is governed as a semiautonomous zone of the United Republic of Tanzania and consists of two large islands — Unguja (1,666 square kilometers, or 643 square miles) to the south, and Pemba (988 km2, or 381 mi2) to the north, each with several small outlying islets mostly on their western sides.
The archipelago is one of the most densely populated areas of Africa, with a total population of 1.9 million, according to the 2022 census. With a 3.8% annual population growth rate and mean household size of five people, there is immense pressure on natural resources. Nonetheless, the archipelago still has unique tropical broadleaf coastal forests, old-growth trees, and mangroves with rare and endemic species. Moreover, communities are still largely forest-dependent.
A decision fork has emerged between development and conservation on these islands: over the last 30 years, a huge tourism industry has developed on Unguja with its sandy beaches (more than 500 hotels), although not on Pemba with its mainly rocky coastline (with approximately 20 hotels). The archipelago now receives more than 100,000 visitors a month in the holiday season, and the 106,108 visitors in July 2025 represented a 31% increase from 2024. Most of these visitors go to Unguja, where much of the tourist development has occurred with little consideration for the environment. Examples include new tarmac roads running through the protected Masingini Forest Reserve, and through the carbon-capturing mangrove forest of the Uzi Peninsula on Unguja — rapid developments that are pushed through with little time for debate.
Now, the government wants to invest heavily in Pemba, but there are officials and community leaders on both islands who see Unguja’s rapid infrastructure development and heavy dependence on the tourism industry as the wrong model. Rather, they recognize that mass tourism has brought great cultural change to the southern island, with the arrival of beach boys, alcohol and drugs to the beach resorts, leading to considerable concern among residents. At stake now is whether the social fabric of Pemba should be similarly endangered, and whether the inevitable economic development contingent upon tourism will jeopardize the ability of future generations of Zanzibaris to enjoy what remains of their natural and cultural heritage. In an election year, these critics are keeping quiet.
Much of both islands consists of agroforestry for fruit, coconut and spice production, interspersed with valleys for the cultivation of rice and tomatoes, and dry coral soils dedicated to production of beans, cassava and peanuts. While most communities maintain community forests for production of fuel, fruit and timber, there are few protected forests. On Unguja, these consist of Jozani-Chwaka National Park, famous for its Zanzibar red colobus (Piliocolobus kirkii) population, and three forest reserves, but these enjoy little practical protection due to underfunding.
On Pemba, there are only three reserves: Msitu Mkuu, Ras Kiuyu, and the island’s biodiversity endemism gem, Ngezi-Vumawimbi Natural Forest Reserve, the largest remaining patch of old-growth coastal rainforest in Zanzibar. But even these areas are no longer safe in this new policy environment.
The threat to Zanzibar comes from the Zanzibar Investment Promotion Authority (ZIPA), a government-appointed body tasked with seeking investors for hotel development on the small islands surrounding Pemba and Unguja, because space is running on Unguja. ZIPA is now seeking investors to transform these offshore islets, and has identified 15 of these for hotel investment. Many are havens for bird life and endemic bats, and 12 of them constitute final refuges for coconut crabs (Birgus latro), species listed as vulnerable to extinction. Nonetheless, the drive to increase beds has resulted in loss of vegetation and leveling to construct bungalow cities, as seen on the islets of Bawe and Pamunda. Recent clearing of yet another islet, Chapwani, has deprived the island of its large fruit bat and heron roosting sites, ironically resulting in loss of revenue for tour operators to the island.
Just as shocking is the project to convert a large portion of Ngezi Forest Reserve into an estate complex: the Montuli project will occupy an extraordinary estimated 17% of the reserve area, and 23% of the reserve’s high forest, with more than 100 structures to be built, suggesting a development complex rather than an “eco-resort.” There is no guarantee that the ongoing environmental impact assessments — one set to be conducted by a company that typically focuses on urban projects — will constitute any kind of block to this development, nor is there any indication that the legal necessity to degazette the forest reserve will be a hindrance, judging by the brick building and garage full of new trucks parked nearby.
Ngezi is designated as an Important Bird Area, a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance, and an Alliance for Zero Extinction site. Northern Ngezi is a botanical gem, with six to eight endemic plant species, a forest of Intsia trees found nowhere else in Africa, a rediscovered damselfly and four endemic bird species, all due for extermination via this resort. Conservation NGOs are resorting to rescuing seedlings from the protected forest to forestall their extinction!
Private conversations with officials in government positions indicate that many are dismayed by this project, but feel powerless to prevent it, and consultations with communities show strong concerns for lost access to beach landing areas and the disruption to their communities. Furthermore, the development will render inaccessible a beach used by many Pembans for weekend and Ramadan celebrations, as well as for school field trips. If all Pembans had a voice, a development of this size would undoubtedly be blocked.
A third investment plan that starkly shows the contrast between protecting a culturally valuable natural resource and tempting global holidaymakers is on the pristine Misali Island Conservation Area, an islet with religious significance and home to endemic Pemba flying foxes (Pteropus voeltzkowi) plus coconut crabs, nesting sea turtles and the critically endangered Pemba aloe (Aloe pembana), now rare on Pemba.
Again, this is a protected area slated for tourism development that will have unknown impact on nesting turtles, the coral reef, and some of the most intact coral “rag” forest (scrub forest that grows on shallow, fast-draining coralline limestone) on the East African coast. A workshop bringing together environmentalists and religious leaders in April 2025, which promoted the idea of making Misali into Pemba’s first national park, needs following up on by government officials looking to make Pemba a real eco-destination in the long term. Officials who want to protect Misali feel sidelined by others in their government, though.
Fortunately, there are some signs that the Zanzibar tourism sector wants to protect environmental and archaeological sites. Mudrick Ramadhan Soraga, Zanzibar’s tourism minister, has stated, “Our long-term vision emphasizes low-density, high-value tourism. By championing eco-conscious resorts over mass tourism models, we aim to protect both our environment and our cultural identity for generations to come.” Nonetheless, some actors are jeopardizing this with a different vision that lacks foresight, common sense and duty to the local communities, and instead think that any “unused” land should be made to produce money.
One problem is deciding what eco-resorts represent. For some in the government and tourism industry, these consist of beautiful hotel or apartment complexes catering to large-scale tourism, but built in pristine areas. For others, they are small, ecologically sensitive lodges with a handful of beds, an alternative successfully established in a few places on Zanzibar such as Chumbe Island Coral Park.
If the latter type of eco-resort were mandated and adhered to, there would be room for compromise between those looking to create new jobs in the short term, and those thinking of the long-term future of Pemba’s natural environment and Zanzibar’s cultural integrity. The development model needs a rethink to include charging a tourism tax on profits, not number of beds (to encourage high-end hotels, not bungalow cities), consulting more seriously with communities to determine their real needs, copying the model of successful eco-resorts (such as Chumbe, which both protects nature and provides community services), seeking out investors with strong eco-resort credentials rather than those who jump at fast money, and so on.
In theory, economic development (including that based on tourism) can take pressure off remaining biodiversity in that it enables livelihood diversification, but it necessitates infrastructural development that usually lacks environmental sensitivity. The issue is getting the balance right. There are examples of win-win outcomes for both sides, such as the agreement to limit tree cutting during the current Ngezi road upgrade, so it can be achieved.
Some in the government have a genuine and positive desire to have sustainable and community-benefiting tourism and development, yet there are elements within government that do not align with this, and potentially jeopardize these good initiatives.
Now is the time for Zanzibar’s government to reexamine past and future investment decisions to ensure they respect Zanzibar’s natural heritage and conserve it for future generations.
Tim Caro is a behavioral/evolutionary ecologist and conservation biologist who has conducted research in Tanzania for 20 years.
Related audio from Mongabay’s podcast: A recent advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on climate change was celebrated by islands for providing certainty on their maritime boundaries regardless of sea level rise, listen to our discussion about that with environmental lawyer Angelique Pouponneau here:
See related coverage:
Forest of rare trees in Zanzibar now earmarked for ‘eco-resort’
‘An oval with legs’: In search of Tanzania’s tiny island antelope
‘A bigger deal than it sounds’: Coconut crabs are vanishing, island by island
Citation:
Caro, T., Baldesi, G., Borrini-Feyerabend, G., Clark, M., Clausnitzer, V., Dijkstra, K. B., … Vamberger, M. (2025). Tourism puts Zanzibari reserve at a crossroads. Science, 389(6767), 1301-1302. doi:10.1126/science.aeb5285
