Role of communal and private forestland tenure regimes in regulating forest ecosystem goods and services in Rombo district, Tanzania

Abstract

This study was undertaken to compare provisioning of forest ecosystem goods and services in Manuo Hill Communal Forest and Shirima Private Forest in Rombo District, Tanzania. Fuel wood was a key forest ecosystem good and biodiversity protection was a key forest ecosystem service identified. Manuo Hill communal forest had lower endowments values in terms of number of stems (1376 stems/ha), basal area (2.6 m2/ha),  volume (7.3 m3/ha) and carbon stock (2.1 tons/ha) compared to the Shirima private forest with 2214 stems/ha, basal area of 3.2 m2/ha, volume of 11.2 m3/ha and carbon stock of 3.2 tons/ha. Only volume and
carbon stock were significantly different between the forests. Species diversity was more or less similar between the forests. Tree removals were higher in communal (1.5 m3/ha) than in private (1.0 m3/ha) but they were not significantly different. Endowments in terms of tenure rights were better in communal forest than in private. More people were entitled to fuel wood
from communal forest (78%) than from private (32%). Environmental benefits of biodiversity protection were entitled to everybody in both forests. It was concluded that no single tenure regime can achieve all objectives of forest management. Instead, balancing between different tenures is recommended.

Key words: forest ecosystems, tenure regimes, endowment and  entitlement, goods and services.