The Contribution of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge in Conservation of Enguserosambu Community Forest, Tanzania

Community managed forests constitute a significant proportion of the world\u27s forests, however, little is known regarding their condition or the details of how they are managed. Documented benefits of community managed forest include poverty alleviation and in some places a decrease in the rate of deforestation. Although some community based forests do not satisfy the IUCN definition of a protected areas, they provide valuable long term sustainability of forest products and many are also rich in biodiversity and support landscape conservation strategies. Forests are also home to many cultures including the indigenous people. Indigenous communities surrounding forest areas and other protected areas have developed patterns of resource use and management that reflect their intimate knowledge of local environments and ecosystems. However, indigenous knowledge is rarely documented or incorporated into science based or government run conservation planning. It is therefore the aim of this research to examine the contribution of indigenous ecological knowledge in the conservation of Enguserosambu Community Forest and surrounding rangelands. Specifically, the research aimed to; understand social mechanisms supporting indigenous ecological knowledge generation, accumulation and transmission, to examine the role of local indigenous institutions in supporting conservation of Enguserosambu Community Forest, and to assess if time-series aerial imagery support historical forest management practices shared as oral histories about land-use change by the communities. Case study design was used to explore the phenomenon in detail. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit research participants that could provide information rich in detail about indigenous forest management practices in the study area. Four villages were surveyed. Individual and group semi-structured interviews were conducted with customary elders, village leaders, forest user groups, NGO\u27s, and forest officers. One focus group discussion was conducted with a community conservation trust. A total of 57 individuals were interviewed, of which 19 were females. Interviews session lasted between 30 minutes and 2 hours. Most of the interviews were audio recorded. Interviews were conducted in either Swahili or Maa language. In case of the latter, translator was used during the interview process. Field noted were also recorded each time the researcher visited the villages. Thematic analysis was carried out for qualitative information using NVivo 10. To compare oral history with land cover change, satellite images with 30m spatial resolution were acquired from Landsat 7 and 8 for land cover change analysis. Satellite Imagery from February 2000 and February 2015 were selected for analysis. ArcGIS 10.2 was used to analyze satellite images for forest cover change

The Contribution of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge in the Conservation of Enguserosambu Community Forest, Tanzania

Community managed forests constitute a significant proportion of the world’s forests, nevertheless, little is known regarding their condition or the details of how they are managed. Forests are home to many cultures including the indigenous people. However, indigenous knowledge is rarely documented or incorporated into conservation planning. It is therefore aim of this research to examine the contribution of indigenous ecological knowledge in conservation of Enguserosambu Community Forest and surrounding rangelands. Individual and group semi-structured interviews as well as focus group discussion were conducted to customary elders, village leaders, forest user groups, NGO’s, forest officers and community conservation trust. A total of 57 individuals were involved out of which 19 were females. Thematic analysis was carried out for qualitative information using NVivo 10. To assess effectiveness of community conservation practices, satellite imagery with 30 m spatial resolution were acquired from Landsat 7 and 8 for land cover change analysis using ArcGIS 10.2. According to Enguserosambu communities, culture and forest is one and the same. Age group meetings, cultural bomas and traditional celebrations are some of the strategies used to share local knowledge in the community. Local institutions participate in training and capacity building as well as enforcing established laws. Despite having clear traditional practices and rules about forest protection, forest cover change persist

THE EFFECT OF AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION ON ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AROUND IHEMI CLUSTER

As the world population continue to increase, the demand for food also increases which necessitate the need for agricultural intensification. Agricultural intensification affects large parts of terrestrial area, therefore, assessment of its contribution to the decrease of ecosystem services is critical for successful conservation in the future. A study was conducted in five districts of Iringa and Njombe Regions, part of Ihemi cluster, to assess the effects of agricultural intensification on ecosystem services.  A total of 607 household surveys and 19 Focus Groups discussions were conducted. Descriptive and cross tabulation were used for quantitative analysis while content analysis was used for qualitative data. Findings reveal that there are several benefits communities get from the ecosystem that play a great role on their livelihood. Across all villages, firewood is preferred due to its affordability and availability. Other ecosystems goods such as traditional medicine and mushrooms are hardly available due to clearing of land for agricultural activities, as well as settlement expansion.  Community activities, such as valley bottom farming was mentioned as a practice that jeopardize the long-term sustainability of ecosystem resources within the Cluster. Agricultural intensification by investors was also mentioned as a sources of ecosystem depletion. Sustainable agricultural intensification, if adopted, might be one among the solutions to serve the ecosystem around the cluster

The Social and Economic Impacts of Ruaha National Park Expansion

Abstract Displacement of people to allow expansion of protected areas involves removing people from their ancestral land or excluding people from undertaking livelihood activities in their usual areas. The approach perpetuates the human-nature dichotomy, where protected areas are regarded as pristine lands that need to be separated from human activities. Beyond material loss, displaced communities suffer loss of symbolic representation and identity that is attached to the place. The aim of this paper was to assess impacts of Ruaha National Park expansions to the adjoining communities. Five villages were surveyed: Ikoga Mpya, Igomelo, Nyeregete, Mahango and Luhango. All participants were victims of the eviction to expand the park borders. Based on the conceptual analysis, major themes generated were: loss of access to livelihood resources, change in resource ownership, conservation costs, resource use conflict, place identity, and the role of power. Similar to previous studies, results show that local communities suffered both symbolic and material loss as a result of park expansion. Furthermore, it has shown that conflicts related to land use changes have roots within (pastoralist vs. farmers; Sangu vs. Sukuma) as well as from the outside. Hence, to better understand resource access and ownership, a deeper understanding of community characteristics/composition and their local interaction is important. Further, park expansion needs to take into consideration human livelihood need

Communities displacement from national park ad tourism development in the Usangu Plains, Tanzania

Land-use-change conflicts have shaped the conservation and tourism activities and human livelihood debate in the Usangu Plains over the last 10 years. This has led Ruaha National Park to become the largest national park in Tanzania and the second largest in Africa. The need to understand the rationale behind the expansion of Ruaha National Park and the local communities' views on tourism activities has become increasingly important. The purpose of this study was to examine land-use change in the Usangu Plains and its implication to local communities. Community members in five villages, Ikoga Mpya, Igomelo, Nyeregete, Mahango and Luhango, were surveyed using semi-structured interviews, focus groups and field notes. This resulted in a total of 79 semi-structured interviews, 4 focus group discussions and field observation data to analyse the situation in Usangu Plains. Data were analysed using NVIVO computer software for coding and themes’ generation. Major themes that emerged from the analysis were land-use change, tourism as a form of land use, tourism benefits and coping mechanisms. The findings from this study suggest that local communities do not perceive that they are benefitting from the change from agricultural to tourism practices. Changing the way local communities perceived themselves and are involved in conservation activities is the key to achieving the best conservation results and community residents’ involvement in future tourism activities in their area

Communities displacement from national park ad tourism development in the Usangu Plains, Tanzania

Land-use-change conflicts have shaped the conservation and tourism activities and human livelihood debate in the Usangu Plains over the last 10 years. This has led Ruaha National Park to become the largest national park in Tanzania and the second largest in Africa. The need to understand the rationale behind the expansion of Ruaha National Park and the local communities' views on tourism activities has become increasingly important. The purpose of this study was to examine land-use change in the Usangu Plains and its implication to local communities. Community members in five villages, Ikoga Mpya, Igomelo, Nyeregete, Mahango and Luhango, were surveyed using semi-structured interviews, focus groups and field notes. This resulted in a total of 79 semi-structured interviews, 4 focus group discussions and field observation data to analyse the situation in Usangu Plains. Data were analysed using NVIVO computer software for coding and themes’ generation. Major themes that emerged from the analysis were land-use change, tourism as a form of land use, tourism benefits and coping mechanisms. The findings from this study suggest that local communities do not perceive that they are benefitting from the change from agricultural to tourism practices. Changing the way local communities perceived themselves and are involved in conservation activities is the key to achieving the best conservation results and community residents’ involvement in future tourism activities in their area

The Role of Local Communities in Tourism Development

One of the core elements of tourism development is to encourage local communities’ participation as it is central to the sustainability of tourism industry. While the literature suggests a number of roles local communities could take in tourism development, little emphasis has so far been given as to how local communities themselves feel about this. As a result, there has been little evidence, especially from the grassroots, on what communities really think of their role(s) in tourism development. Using a case study of Barabarani village in Tanzania, this paper contributes to the understanding of community participation in tourism development by examining local communities’ views on their role in tourism development. The paper triangulates both quantitative and qualitative data to bring together perspectives from the grassroots based on household questionnaire survey with some members of the local community and a two-month period of field observations in the study area, coupled with the researcher’s experience with the wider community. The findings revealed that local communities want to be involved when tourism policies are being made to enable policymakers to prepare a policy that meets stakeholders’ needs and addresses their concerns. They also want to be part of tourism development decisions to ensure their needs are incorporated. Furthermore, local communities want to have a voice in development issues (not necessarily tourism development) to enable them to protect community interests, and increase transparency and accountability, and wipe out embezzlements and abuse of offices, which are rampant acts amongst decision-makers. Similar to previous studies, they rejected the statement ‘local people should not participate by any means’ in tourism development. It is clear from the findings that people are against the prevailing top-down approach in decision making when it comes to tourism development in their areas. It also depicts the nature of the central government which controls all the forms of decision making when it comes to development and policy formulation. The study emphasizes on small scale methods in analysing and assessing the role of local communities views of participation from the communities themselves rather than what has been normally imposed on them

Background of Forestry and Climate Change

This chapter provides an overview on forestry education and the emergence of participatory forest management (PFM), Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) and their link to climate change in Tanzania. Other emerging issues discussed in this chapter are community perception, the need for paradigm shift, value chain development, governance, and entrepreneurship development