Is Joint Forest Management providing attractive Incentives to Local Communities? Empirical Evidence from Uluguru and Udzungwa Mountain Forests, Tanzania

Abstract

Weak incentives for communities are reported as the primary cause of the high failure rate of Joint Forest Management (JFM) regimes. Reports have indicated that JFM does not pay under protected forests. On the contrary, this paper argues that JFM provides a number of existing and potential incentives to communities living adjacent to forests to facilitate their effective management. The study was conducted in Uluguru and Udzungwa Mountains within the Eastern Arc Mountains in Tanzania. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools and a questionnaire were used to gather information while content analysis and descriptive statistics were used to analyse qualitative and quantitative statistics respectively. Existing incentives included; income from tourists and researchers, availability of basic needs obtained by conserving the forest, other climate regulation services, environmental awards, sale of forest products and equipment confiscated from culprits, and individual gain paid for providing various services related to managing the forest. Potential incentives were perceived to include; income from REDD payments, payment from water users, hunting rights, alternative income generating projects for households, working equipment, presence of a forestry staff on station, study tours . for Village Natural Resources Committee members and income from other ecosystem services. The study concludes that JFM remains attractive to communities living adjacent to these forests due to a good number of existing incentives and perceived benefits. Communities and practitioners are urged to explore additional unexplored opportunities including ecotourism and beekeeping to expand the spectrum of incentives, making JFM more attractive for rural communities living around them.