Conservation of urban forest in Tanzania: community attitudes towards Njiro forest, Arusha
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Date
2019-08-26
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
East African Journal of Forestry & Agroforestry
Abstract
Understanding community attitudes towards urban forests is of great importance
since these attitudes are inherently linked to the long-term sustainability of urban
forests management and conservation. We analysed the attitudes of the local
community towards the Njiro forest (Arusha, Tanzania) which is managed and
used as an experimental beekeeping area by TAWIRI (Tanzania Wildlife
Research Institute). Data collection was done between September-October 2018
involving a sample of 163 randomly selected respondents. A semi-structured
questionnaire was used to collect the data. Quantitative data were analysed
through Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). Chi-square tests and
contingency tables were used to determine whether there was a significant
difference between the expected frequencies and the observed frequencies in
one or more categories. Possible influences coming from sociological and
demographic factors such as age, gender, education level, occupation were
assessed. The majority of the respondents declared to gain ecological benefits
from the forest. A significantly larger group of older respondents in comparison
with the younger ones (p<0.05) declared to face problems coming from the
forest (stray dogs, robbers, illegal waste disposal). Males showed to be more
interested in practising beekeeping than females (p<0.05). Respondents with a
primary education level were more prone to express agreement with the adopted
management strategies in comparison with respondents with higher education
(p<0.001). In conclusion, the great majority of respondents declared to support
the conservation of Njiro forest, however, employed respondents and females
were more positive regarding the hypothesis of abolishing the forest (p<0.05).
In order to improve management strategies and support the long-term
conservation of the forest, respondents recommended strengthening the
protection of the forest by fencing it, providing environmental education to the
surrounding community, reinforcing the cooperation with the local community
and planting new trees to improve the health of the forest ecosystem.
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
Njiro forest, Conservation, Local community, Bees