Communities’ perception on the impact of decentralised forest management on access to forest resources and occurrence of illegal tree harvesting in north eastern and central Tanzania

The aim of this study was to assess community perceptions on the impact of decentralised forest management (DFM) on access to forest resources and occurrence of illegal tree harvesting in north eastern and central Tanzania. Seven villages were selected from montane and semi-arid contrasting conditions. In the montane site, three villages: Goka, Sagara and Mavumo adjacent to Shagayu, Sagara and Shume-Magamba forests under Joint Forest Management (JFM), Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) and Centralised Management (CM) respectively were studied. Four villages namely Kwabaya, Kwamatuku, Pohama and Kweditilibe adjacent to Handeni Hill (JFM), Kwakirunga (CBFM), Mgori (CBFM) and Kiva Hill (CM) forests respectively were studied in semi-arid site. Generally, access to forest resources before DFM was rated difficult in montane study villages. While Sagara and Mavumo perceived moderate access after decentralisation, Goka village participating in JFM perceived access to remain difficult. In semi-arid sites, access was perceived to be moderate before decentralisation in semi-arid villages except Pohama which rated it difficult. After decentralisation, Kwabaya and Kwamatuku villages perceived difficult access while Pohama and Kweditilibe rated it moderate. Illegal forest activities before decentralisation in the montane site were rated high. Only Goka perceived high illegal activities after decentralisation while others rated moderate. Kwabaya and Kwamatuku perceived moderate occurrence of illegal activities before and high after decentralisation. Pohama perceived high occurrence of illegal activities before and moderate after decentralisation. In both sites, it was difficult to link access and occurrence of illegal activities with management regimes due to lack of operational management plans and approved bylaws.Keywords: decentralised forest management, access, tree harvesting, montane, semi-arid, north eastern and central Tanzania

Forest cover changes, stocking and removals Under different decentralised forest management Regimes in Tanzania

By the end of the last century many countries including Tanzania moved from centralised towards decentralised forest management but little empirical evidence exists on how such changes have influenced forest conditions. The objective of this study was to provide insights on how decentralised approaches might influence forest resource conditions. Forest cover analyses from satellite images (1993, 2000 and 2009) and systematic sample plot inventories (2009) in two state forest reserves under joint forest management (JFM) and two village forest reserves under community-based forest management (CBFM) in Babati District, Tanzania were carried out. Based on the results, it was not possible to claim that the decentralised management had been successful in improving forest conditions. Proportions of closed woodland decreased significantly over time (from over 80 to 50–60% under JFM and from around 70 to almost 0% under CBFM. In all forests, numbers of regenerants were high, but proportions of larger trees were low and levels of removals (legal and illegal) were relatively high. In general the situation under JFM was better than under CBFM. Results of this study can be used by policymakers to assess the influence of decentralised forest management in Tanzania.The study was done as a part of the project 'Assessing the impact of forestland tenure changes on forest resources and rural livelihoods in Tanzania' (No. NUFUTZ-2007/10226) under the Tanzania–Norway NUFU Programme 2007–2012. We acknowledge the assistance provided by staff of the Manyara catchment forest office, Manyara natural resource office, village governments in Managhat, Haraa, Riroda and Bubu villages during data collection. We are indebted to A Masao, D Byarugaba and D Shafii who provided valuable technical assistance in the field

Impact of decentralised forest management on forest cover changes in the north eastern Tanzania

This study aimed to assess the impact of decentralised forest management on forest cover changes in the north eastern Tanzania. Six contrasting forests namely: Shagayu (JFM), Shume-Magamba (fexclusive state management) and Sagara (CBFM) in the montane, and Handeni Hill(JFM), Kiva Hill (exclusive state management) and Kwakirunga (CBFM) insemi-arid forests were studied. Forest cover changes were assessed for periods before and after decentralised forest management. Cover maps were derived from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) images. Forest inventory techniques were used to estimate tree harvests as major drivers of forest cover changes. The area under closed forest cover decreased substantially ranging from 0.4%.y-1 to 1.3%.y-1 in the montane forests with higher forest loss recorded under exclusive state management. In the semi-arid, the forest under JFM experienced substantial increase in forest cover (+3.5%.y-1) as compared to exclusive state management and CBFM. More tree basal area were harvested under exclusive state management in the montane study forests as compared to JFM and CBFM and the differences were significant (p<0.05). In the semi-arid study forests, higher tree harvests were recorded under CBFM followed by JFM and exclusively state and thedifferences were significant (p<0.05). It was observed in this study that, regardless of management regime, participating villagers were unable to exclude people with no formal rights to the forests under PFM. It is therefore concluded that, decentralised management can impact forest resources both positively and negatively depending on institutional arrangements. However, some empirical evidence indicates that JFM and CBFM performed better than those under exclusive state management,although uncontrolled exploitation of the forest has continued also under these regimes. Although the two regimes are promising forest decentralisation models for Tanzania, more research is needed to understand the functions of different governance structures for decentralized forest management to achieve the goal of improving forest condition.Keywords: decentralised forest management, forest cover, montane, semiarid, north eastern Tanzani