Incentive optimising model for communities living adjacent to catchment forest reserves in Tanzania

Abstract

Most Catchment Forest Reserves (CFRs) in Tanzania are managed in collaboration between government and communities through Joint Forest Management (JFM). In these forests, harvesting of timber and other valuable products are strictly prohibited. This led to minimal incentives for communities’ participation in conservation. To readdress this anomaly, ecosystem goods and services are optimised to provide compensation for
deferring timber benefits. This study aimed at developing an optimisation model based on sale of carbon and beekeeping activities. The study was conducted in Morogoro and Iringa regions in and around Kimboza and New Dabaga Ulongambi-(NDU) FRs respectively. The incentive model was developed using two decision variables (carbon and honey) and a set of constraints using linear programming. The model output revealed optimal returns ranging from USD 2025 to 6144 per forest per year in Kimboza and
NDU FR respectively. Small returns in Kimboza were associated with small size of the forest reaching maximum at threshold between 615 and 1536 ha from a combination of carbon and honey. It is recommended to involve higher forest size (more than 600 ha) for community to maximise incentives particularly when carbon alone is considered. With lower forest size beekeeping activities become important.

Keywords: Catchment Forest Reserves- Communities-Incentives-Linear
Programming-Carbon-REDD+NTFPs- Honey-Tanzania