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Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+) is a policy mechanism now agreed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from developing countries through the sustainable management of forests, while providing co-benefits of biodiversity conservation and livelihood support. Implementation challenges include linking remote sensing and national forest inventories of carbon stocks, to local implementation and measuring carbon loss from forest degradation. Community-based forest monitoring can help overcome some of these challenges. We show that local people can collect forest condition data of comparable quality to trained scientists, at half the cost. We draw on our experience to propose how and where local REDD+ monitoring can be established. Empowering communities to own and monitor carbon stocks could provide a rapid and cost-effective way of absorbing carbon dioxide emissions, while potentially contributing to local livelihoods and forest biodiversity conservation.

Over the past 15 years the Tanzanian government has promoted participatory forest management (both joint forest management and community-based forest management) as a major strategy for managing natural forests for sustainable use and conservation. Such management is currently either operational or in the process of being established in . 3.6 million ha of forest land and in . 1,800 villages. Data from three case studies of forests managed using participatory and non-participatory forest management approaches suggest that community involvement in forest management is correlated with improving forest condition. In our first case study we demonstrate increasing basal area and volume of trees per ha over time in miombo woodland and coastal forest habitats under participatory forest management compared with similar forests under state or open access management. In our second case study three coastal forest and sub-montane Eastern Arc forests under participatory forest management show a greater number of trees per ha, and mean height and diameter of trees compared to three otherwise similar forests under state management. In our third case study levels of cutting in coastal forest and Eastern Arc forests declined over time since initiation in participatory forest management sites. We conclude that participatory forest management is showing signs of delivering impact in terms of improved forest condition in Tanzanian forests but that further assessments need to be made to verify these initial findings.

We determine the aboveground biomass and carbon storage (ABGC) of trees and the herbaceous layer in miombo woodland in the Eastern Arc Mountains (EAM) of Tanzania. In four 1-ha sample plots in Nyanganje and Kitonga Forests, we measured all trees ‡10 cm diameter alongside height and wood mass density. The plots contained an average of 20 tree species ha )1 (range 11-29) and 344 stems ha )1 (range 281-382) with Shannon diversity values of 1.05 and 1.25, respectively. We weighted nine previously published woody savannah allometric models based on whether: (i) the model was derived from the same geographical region; (ii) the model included tree height ⁄wood mass density in addition to stem diameter; and (iii) sample size was used to fit the model. The weighted mean ABGC storage from the nine models range from 13.5 ± 2 to 29.8 ± 5 Mg ha )1 . Measured ABGC storage in the herbaceous layer, using the wet combustion method, adds 0.55 ± 0.02 Mg C ha )1 . Estimates suggest that EAM miombo woodlands store a range of 13-30 Mg ha )1 of carbon. Although the estimates suggest that miombo woodlands store significant quantities of carbon, caution is required as this is the first estimate based on in situ data. RésuméNous déterminons le stock de biomasse de carbone aérien (C abg ) dans les arbres et dans la couche herbacée de la forêt Ó