Community-based Monitoring of Natural Resource Use and Forest Quality in Montane Forests and Miombo Woodlands of Tanzania

Abstract

A community-based monitoring system that focuses on natural resource use and forest quality in montane evergreen forest and miombo woodland areas was developed and implemented in 23 villages in 2002 as part of a participatory forest management regime in Iringa District, Tanzania. The scheme was developed to suit the needs and capacities of locally-elected natural resource committees managing and monitoring natural forests. Rather than measuring biodiversity, the monitoring is focused on resource extraction and disturbance. High levels of commitment to the monitoring were displayed by village level managers, and the preliminary feed-back indicates that the monitoring scheme provides them with the relevant information needed to suggest appropriate management interventions. While external support has been essential to cover development costs, natural resource revenue generated at village level can provide most of the running costs. Once developed, the scheme can, however, be transferred to similar areas at significantly lower costs that can be met by Tanzanian District budgets. Natural resource revenue generated from montane forests is generally much lower than in woodland areas due to restrictions on resource extraction imposed as a consequence of national and international interests. Opportunities to provide economic incentives for montane forest managers through direct utilisation of the resource are limited and it remains to be seen whether other non-economic incentives can sustain long term commitment in these biodiversity rich areas. Findings indicate that the key elements of this local resource utilisation monitoring scheme are simplicity, incentive mechanisms, transparency and accountability, and autonomy for local managers. However, the methods may not provide sufficient data on changes in biodiversity values in the high value forests and may need to be augmented by conventional monitoring by scientists funded by national or international institutions. Elements of the scheme are now being institutionalised within the forestry sector in Tanzania.

Integrating CBM into Land-Use Based Mitigation Actions Implemented by Local Communities

“…CBM is more likely to be sustainable over time if it is built on existing institutions, if it does not generate conflicts between government and traditional authorities and if data is stored and analysed locally [7]; this might mean that the process of implementation should be simple, appropriate to local needs and developed at a slow pace despite the pressures from external actors (e.g., funding bodies) [7,17]. Monitoring schemes with higher involvement of communities can help to build social capital, and facilitate a prompt response for forest management decision-making, if the schemes are developed within a supportive legal framework [8] and communities have rights to manage and use forest resources [18][19][20].…”

“…If monitoring is locally relevant it may be more sustainable since valuation of local benefits will promote participation (types III-V) [8]; nevertheless monitoring programs should not rely on this 'low cost' monitoring, since if real local benefits are not enough to cover the participation costs, monitoring will not occur [8,18,21]. Previous research highlights the potential to develop monitoring schemes of types II-III when practices are institutionalised in official organizational and governance schemes to enable the provision of support/feedback by officials and other technical experts (e.g., [8,22]).…”

Tropical dry forests: The state of global knowledge and recommendations for future research

“…This is most comprehensive for CBNRM in the miombo and West Africa and community forestry in Latin America, particularly Mexico (see Ribot 1998;Topp-Jørgensen et al 2005;Raik and Decker 2007;Taber et al 1997;Dalle et al 2011;Baldauf 2012;Rives et al 2012). Community forestry policy in India has also been well studied, but rarely with a focus on dry forests.…”

Comparing the Effectiveness of Informal and Formal Institutions in Sustainable Common Pool Resources Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Attention towards understanding institutional arrangements for sustainable CPR management arose from the coming to light of failures of the past isolated efforts of governments and development agencies to solve CPR management challenges in different parts of the world (Ostrom 1990;Agrawal 2001;Gibson et al 2004;Topp-Jorgensen et al 2005;German et al 2007). Recently, efforts have been made in different SSA countries towards achieving sustainable CPR management, based on a much more active involvement of the CPR users.…”