The Discovery of Gas and Oil and its Impact on Cultural Heritage Resources in Mtwara Region, Tanzania

Abstract

The mechanisms used to achieve advanced level of development would differ from one society to another. This depends highly on the available resources to spearhead the targeted development plans. It has been noticed that not every development strategy can be implemented without impacting other social spheres. It is on this ground that this article reflects on the impact of development projects on cultural heritage resources in Mtwara Region while focusing on the discovery of gas and oil in this region of South-Eastern Tanzania. The reason behind this interest is the fact that Mtwara Region is now emerging as one of the investment centres in the country due to the discovery and extraction of gas and oil. This article is a product of my PhD fieldwork   which  partly   investigated the impact  of  the    discovery  of  gas and oil upon cultural heritage resources in Mtwara Region of Tanzania. It is l ikely that a number of cu ltural heritage resources in Mtwara Region are going to disappear if rescue n1easures are not taken by cultural heritage stakeholders. Some of the factors leading to the deterioration of cu ltural norms and heritage resources could be directly attributed to investment projects that to a large extent are implemented without undertak ing cultural heritage impact assessment (CHIA).