Born in Tanzania on the 31 July 1949, Julian H Machange will receive a fellowship to perfect his knowledge at University College Dublin and to pursue his fieldwork research, on the natural site of the Conservation Zone of Ngorongoro (Tanzania) inscribed on the World Heritage List.

He will study the impact of the programme launched in the 1990's on the reduction in poverty, notably the reintroduction of cattle. This programme has had an impact on the natural environment and on the life of the Masai inhabitants of the Ngorongoru Conservation Zone.

Julian has taught for more than 20 years in conservation of protected zones. He is presently principal teacher at the African College of the Management of Nature in Mweka, Tanzania. Therefore, the outcome of his research will have an immediate multiplier effect on his daily work as soon as he returns to Mweka.


Conservation Zone Natural site Ngorongoro, United Republic of Tanzania

The immense and perfect crater of Ngorongoro shelters a large, permanent concentration of wild animals, notably zebras, elephants, rhinoceros, lions, impalas, hyenas, antelope, cheetahs and more than 100 species of birds, including pink flamingos. Nearby is the Empakaai crater with its deep lake and the still active volcano of Oldonyo Lengai. The crater is one of the biggest if not one of the most intact in the world. Not far from there, excavations carried out in the Olduvai Gorge have unearthed the bones fragments of one of the most distant of man's ancestors, Homo Habilis, discovered by Mary and Louis Leakey. On the site of Laitoli, in the same region, are found footsteps of the first hominids going back 3.6 million years.


Project Objectives

• To maintain the multiple dynamics of land usage systems that can perpetuate the historic balance between populations and nature;
• To preserve the biodiversity and the ecological integrity of the Serengeti ecosystem of the highlands of the Ngorongoro Conservation Zone;
• To preserve the palaeontological and archaeological as well as the resources in this zone that have international significance;
• To protect the watering places essential to the ecology and the inhabitants of the region;
• To safeguard and promote the rights of the indigenous populations of the zone so that they can manage their own economy and their cultural development whilst leaving natural resources intact;
• To give opportunities, linked to the Zone's natural and cultural resources, of interpretation, research and education to the Zone's residents and to its tourists;
• To maintain and promote the values for which the region was inscribed on the World Heritage List and on the World Network of Biosphere reserves.