The Landscape Conservation in Western Tanzania (LCWT) project works to protect endangered chimpanzee populations, safeguard their habitat through effective land use planning, and empower local communities by supporting more productive and sustainable livelihoods in the Gombe-Masito-Ugalla (GMU) landscape. The GMU landscape, located in Western Tanzania, harbors over 90% of Tanzania’s estimated 2,200 chimpanzees.

This important population of chimpanzees is facing increasing threats due to habitat loss and fragmentation from illegal logging, settlement expansion, and habitat conversion for agricultural purposes. Chimpanzees are also directly at risk from nearby human communities through disease transmission and human-wildlife conflict.

Underlying these threats, rapidly growing human populations in Western Tanzania are depleting natural resources and expanding unsustainable land use practices. These issues, paired with inadequate capacity of local government to effectively manage natural resources, have limited conservation outcomes.