By

Cassian Sianga

Forest Governance Learning Group – CoordinatorLiberia - Monrovia, 7-8 October 2015

“Participatory Forest Management; an NGO perspective - Lessons from Tanzania"

Tanzania

• Tanzania has a total area of 945,000 km2. Out of these 48.1 million hectares consists of forests and woodlands.

• Total protected area covers 28.0 million hectares (includes catchment forests, soil conservation areas and biodiversity).

• Production forests where harvesting can be practiced legally take up 20.1 million hectares (Forest Plantations, production forest reserves and forests on general land).

Environment to support PFM in TanzaniaAvailable guidelines

- JFM- CBFM- PFRA

Available range of expertise

Conducive policy environment• Statements in the policy, Articles in the forestry Act which

provides for VLF for community participation• Participation by other stakeholders e.g. NGOs

Forest Policy of 1998, which set the framework for a reorientation of forestry in Tanzania, away from a traditional top-down approach to one that facilitates local involvement in the management of forest resources

Objective of the Policy;Management and utilization of the forests on public lands (non-reserved forest land), i.e. open access forest areas in the absence of security of tenure or formal user rights over these forest resources,

Act Part V Section 34 provides wide discretion to the village governments to manage forests that fall under their village lands

The Forest Act provides incentives to rural communities to progressively reserve unprotected woodlands and forests currently outside forest reserves estimated to be in excess of 19 million hectares

Participatory Forest Management - PFMVillagers may decide to set aside or “reserve” a forest area for a range of reasons;• they have seen their forests declining

through poor management or uncontrolled utilization.

• communities may wish to set aside a bare area for forest restoration.

• villagers may wish to reserve their forest because it has significant economic potential and they wish to obtain tangible benefits from sustainable harvesting.

• conserve their village forests for traditional or sacred purposes, in other cases it may be to protect an important water source.

It includes not only the practical responsibilities or management but also the authority to make the decisions, which guide those operations.

CBFM is a power-sharing strategy. • It builds upon the National Forest

Policy to enable local participation in forest management and the really need to bring control and management to more practical local levels.

• Aims to secure forests through sharing the right to control and manage them, not just the right to use or benefit from them.

Therefore, CBFM target communities not as passive beneficiaries but as forest managers (all aspects of forest management such as forest protection, regulation of access and use of the forest, and actions to rehabilitate or develop the productive capacity of the forest.

Village Land Forest Reserve (VLFR)

Under the Forest Act (2004), once villagers satisfy a few preconditions (such as the election of a village natural resource management committee, the production of a simple management plan and passing of village forest management bylaws), village governments can “declare” their own village land forest reserves or community forest reserves, and once registered by the district council, they can begin active management. The legislation provides specific local incentives for CBFM. These include:• Waiving state royalties on forest produce • Exemption from benefit sharing arrangements • Levying and retaining fines and proceeds from confiscated

timber and equipment

• Exemption from the “reserved tree species list”.

Changing role and achievementsThe changing role of the district council staff• Traditionally district forestry staffs

have had a role as “policemen” – restricting communities from getting involved in forest management and utilization and excluding them from reserved forest areas.

• Under the Forest Act district forestry staff now have new responsibilities to assist villagers identify, survey and manage their own forests for the benefit of the community as a whole.

• District forest staffs now work as partners with communities, advising them on how they can best manage their forests in the short and long term.

Achievements1. in the next 2 – 3 years there will be no more

general lands (most of these areas will have been claimed by villages and most likely put into VLFRs where TFS has no authority to issue licenses or to collect revenue

2. Authorities in in the districts and regions believe that by developing VLUPs all land currently considered to be general lands will no longer exist.

3. Some villages have realized that if they develop VLUPs they can refuse TFS access to forest resources located on their lands thereby lose the ability to issue harvesting permits for these areas

Governance issues• Procurement procedures• Assembly meetings• Harvesting committee

meetings• Use of billboards and

notice boards

Challenges

• Institutional failures and governance shortfalls in the forest sector

• Limited capacity at local government levels• Lack of knowledge among forest-dependent

communities on CBFM opportunities• Focus on conservation and protection rather

than sustainable utilisation• Guidelines and capacity building efforts

directed to Local Government staff

The big question is?

• How ready and fast are we in making communities own their resources by;– Facilitation of VLFR?– Getting more benefits from the resources?– Be more transparent and accountable at all levels

(community level to higher levels?– Invest more in forest management?– Etc?

• See documentary! - On YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTk0bBqJUug

&feature=youtu.be– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGMlZsMWd

S0&feature=youtu.be

– Legality checklist http://mamamisitu.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Checklist_Swahili-Final.pdf

Thank you for listening