Land and water in southwest Meru, northern Tanzania, 1895--1995

This colonial/postcolonial land use history of a small Tanzanian watershed illustrates political-economic, demographic and other pressures on rural East African communities and the land and water which sustain them. These pressures constrain sustainable development.; A historical-regional approach synthesizes cultural and political ecology perspectives. A historical focus illuminates the situated nature of events which produced current socio-environmental conditions; a regional focus highlights multiple, interacting causes of socio-environmental change. Landscape scale allows place-based anthropological detail.; The Selian River watershed is located on Mt. Meru's southwestern slopes. The volcano's environmental gradient typifies complex, rural East African landscapes. The Arusha people, sometimes called agricultural Maasai, inhabit the mountain's western side.; The Germans divided Meru's slopes into rigid horizontal bands---forest reserve above and European settler farms below, hemming in densely populated indigenous villages. In southwest Meru these zones were still present at century's end. Streamflow contravenes zonal boundaries, affirming the ecological unity of the landscape even as foresters, expatriate coffee plantations, and Arusha villagers inhabit separate worlds.; Meru is the only water source for the surrounding region. Control of water confers control over land and other resources. Northern Tanzanian water policy has exhibited surprising continuity from the 1920s to 1990s. From mountain villagers' perspective, state policy aims to control upland water use thereby increasing supplies for lowland (often large, commercial) users. In the water quality arena, relatively abundant (but dirty) mountain village water is accorded lower priority than dry lowland locales.; The coffee estates have responded to water scarcity with technology. Village water management is technologically simple, but socially complex; often viewed as archaic and corrupt, indigenous water management may also be efficient and democratic. A century of water conflict has marked village-estate relations, with estates wielding the power of economic clout and villagers the power of upstream position.; This case study demonstrates the utility of cultural/political ecology synthesis for multi-causal explanation in complex rural landscapes. It also provides: an example of historical-regional methodology; detailed local history of an under-studied region; an illustration of neoliberal water policy prescriptions' inappropriateness in rural Africa.