Participatory Forest Management in West Usambara Tanzania: What Is the Community Perception on Success?

Abstract

Despite the increase in forest areas and villages under the participatory program over the last two decades in Tanzania, there is little insight into the communities’ views regarding their participation. This study aimed to explore communities’ participation in the participatory forest program in Tanzania. The survey involved 159 households, randomly sampled from four villages bordering state and community-managed forests, in West Usambara Mountains. The factor analysis summarised three components of participation. Economic, decision-making, and protection activities are used to formulate the participation intensity index. The study observed significantly higher levels and intensity of participation in the villages around the state compared to those around the community forest. Training attendance, trust on institutions, and location were significant predictors of participation intensity of the households. In conclusion, the perceived performance of the participatory programs in achieving the participation aims has been moderate with better results in the state forest jointly managed with the community. Raising awareness and improving communication with villagers, fulfilling promises for the communities, and provision of more forest-linked interventions are recommended to improve the situation in West Usambara.

Gampong’s Forest Management: A Case Study of Gampong Institution’s Role in Peudada Regency, Indonesia

“…It is also believed as how to trigger the community involvement so that they can get benefit from the forest existence (Nurhaedah & Hapsari, 2014). This also supported by Luswaga & Nuppenau (2020) clarifying that community participation and involvement in forest management. In Indonesia, forest plays vital role in many sectors (Rif'an, Setiawan, & Wisnuaji, 2016).…”

Forest management and conservation under the REDD + initiative: community perspectives across an altitudinal gradient in the Rubeho Mountain Ecosystem in Tanzania

“…In addition, Mfuruni village was accessible only through motorcycles and bicycles. More importantly, as noted by Luswaga and Nuppenau (2020), the mountainous nature of highlands may make it hard for some people to go to the forest, in this context for timber operations. These results concur with a study by Dyngeland et al (2014) in the same area which reported some villages located in the lowland area that are nearby Kilosa town and have easy access to the town market and have created high pressure on their forest resources.…”

“…These results reflect the argument made by Blomley et al (2017) that TFCG/MJUMITA strived to ensure that the REDD + initiative and related activities were well-understood to all communities involved in the initiative. Furthermore, according to Islam et al (2013) and Luswaga and Nuppenau (2020), high awareness could be linked to high participation, in this context to a REDD + initiative. This means that awareness defines the level of participation.…”

Typology of Forest Users in West Usambara Tanzania and Implication to Forest Management

“…In West Usambara, households located around the JFM forest may have the advantage of better forest access and, therefore, high forest dependency [76].…”

“…Trust can be built upon or improved by multiple partners, both public and private, working together through the provision of capacity building and various services (e.g., training, social services, fundraising, or business improvements) [90]. In the WUMs, a previous study [76] found a high level of trust between the community and non-governmental organizations that operated projects related to soil and environmental conservation, indicating that such communities respond favorably to situations that they feel represents a win-win scenario. Further, communication and trust are intertwined, and in the WUMs, this situation can be improved with regular meetings.…”