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

Abstract

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.