Abstract:
Tanzania was colonised by the Germany in the late 19 century and after World War II it was
put under British mandatory by the United Nations. Later on in 1961, the country got her independence
and adopted the capitalistic economy. Through the Arusha Declaration in 1967, it abandoned the
capitalistic and adopted a socialistic policy to guide her socio-economic development. This policy was
named ‘Ujamaa’ (family-hood) because it had more emphasis on African socialistic cooperation.
Socialism was pursued by Julius K. Nyerere who was the first president of Tanzania. This review explored
the forest management path from pre-colonial period to the today’s regime where community forest is
a main concept. It was adopted by the Tanzanian forest policies of 1998 and reviesed in 2012. The study
revealed that colonialism and introduction of Christianity diluted the traditional systems that were used
by most communities for management of forests. During Ujamaa and resettlement of isolated rural
populations in central villages more forests were cleared to meet immediate wood demands. Rural
dwellers lost control of their traditional land and lost lives due to diseases and wild animals. Despite
these shortfalls, socialism/Ujamaa created a platform for better forest management through political
stability, decentralised governance and decreased levels of forest-based resources dependency
especially for food and medicines. Forests managed under Ujamaa village governments had better
conditions than the rest of forests. Ujamaa was the basis for community resource management of
today. The first policy with community participation concept was enacted in 1998 and the forest sector
was the pioneer of this. Consequently we can conclude that, together with external influence, Ujamaa
formed a basis for Participatory forest Management (PFM) in Tanzania.
