Governing the commons: An appraisal of Ostrom Principles in the context of Community Forest Management Agreement in Zanzibar, Tanzania

Abstract

Ostrom Design Principles (ODPs) are widely used as an analytical tool for assessing the governance of common pool resources, including Community Forest Management (CoFM). This study applied ODPs to assess the practices of the Community Forest Management Agreement (CoFMA) in Zanzibar, Tanzania, using interviews and Focus group discussions (FGDs). This paper found that the CoFMA adapted all eight principles of Ostrom’s design. However, it was found to have low local community participation in implementing various CoFMA activities, such as community participation in land zones (24.8%), formulation of by-laws (31.3%), and conservation meetings (33.4%). The Chi-squire test (X² =23.371) revealed that participation in conservation meetings during CoFMA establishment had a significant association with participation in zoning community land and the formulation of by-laws among local community members (P<0.000). In CoFMA, financial motivation and alternative sources of income in communities are emphasised to reduce community dependence on forests, while in ODPs they are silent. It is concluded that CoFMA has adopted all ODPs to govern community forests. Nevertheless, the full implementation of ODPs in CoFMA has been difficult because the communities lack reliable alternative sources of livelihood, and the idea of CoFMA was not a community initiative since it was opposed by some of the community members. This paper recommends that for successful adoption and implementation of ODPs in CoFMA,there should be community-lead, financial motivation from the global north and the government to support communities livelihood projects. Also, the distribution of incentives from CoFM among community members should be included in the by-laws.