Over the past 20 years, Participatory Forest Management (PFM) has become a dominant forest management strategy in Tanzania, covering more than 4.1 million hectares. Sustainable forest use and supply of wood products to local people are major aims of PFM. This paper assesses the sustainability of forest utilisation under PFM, using estimates of forest condition and extraction rates based on forest inventories and 480 household surveys from 12 forests; seven under Community Based Forest Management (CBFM), three under Joint Forest Management (JFM) and two under government management (non-PFM). Extraction of products is intense in forests close to Dar es Salaam, regardless of management regime. Further from Dar es Salaam, harvesting levels in forests under PFM are, with one prominent exception, broadly sustainable. Using GIS data from 116 wards, it is shown that half of the PFM forests in Tanzania are likely to be too small to satisfy current local wood demand.

This study examined the effects of planting spacing on growth, yield, and wood properties of teak planted at square spacing regimes of 2 m, 3 m, and 4 m at Longuza Forest Plantation, Tanzania. To achieve this, tree, stand, and wood properties were studied at age of 14 years. Results showed that diameter at breast height and total height increased with increasing spacing. Mean annual increment increased significantly with increasing spacing while spacing did not have significant effect on total volume production and basal area. Basic density is also not affected by spacing while heartwood proportion increases as planting spacing increases. All studied wood properties (modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, compression strength tangential to grain, and shear tangential to the grain) except cleavage tangential to grain were not significantly affected by increasing spacing. It is recommended to use the spacing of 3 × 3 m, but if thinning can be done before onset of competition at 5 years, the currently used spacing of 2.5 × 2.5 m can still be used. However, the use of a spacing of 4 × 4 m can give at least 50% heartwood at shorter rotation age of 30 years.

This study explores infestation density of Leptocybe invasa on five commercially grown Eucalyptus species in Coastal, Plateaux, and Southern Highlands agroecological zones of Tanzania. Infestation density between agroecological zones, Eucalyptus species, age classes and tree crown parts, relationship between stand altitudes and the magnitude of infestation, damage index, species age, and abundance of L. invasa on different Eucalyptus species were examined. There were significant differences in infestation between zones and Eucalyptus species. Eucalyptus tereticornis was more affected, followed by E. camaldulensis, and E. saligna was the least while E. grandis and E. citriodora were not affected. No significant differences in damage between different crown parts were observed. Trees with age of 1-3 yr were damaged more than those of age 4-6 yr. Pest infestation increased with an increase of L. invasa abundance but decreased with an increase of altitudes. Control efforts needs to focus on controlling the spread of the pest, using silvicultural methods and planting resistant Eucalyptus species.

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