Abstract:
Community perceptions on the impact of decentralised forest management on access to livelihoods assets
were assessed in north eastern and central Tanzania. Seven villages were selected from the montane and
semi-arid conditions. In the montane, three villages; Goka, Sagara and Mavumo adjacent to Shagayu, Sagara
and Shume-Magamba forests under Joint Forest Management (JFM), Community Based Forest Management
(CBFM) and Centralised Management (CM) respectively were studied. In contrast, four villages namely
Kwabaya, Kwamatuku, Pohama and Kweditilibe adjacent to Handeni Hill (JFM), Kwakirunga (CBFM), Mgori
(CBFM) and Kiva Hill (CM) forests respectively were studied in semi-arid. Data were collected using semistructured
questionnaires and the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 16.0 software was employed for
data analysis. Decentralised management has to some extent facilitated and mediated access to forest related
livelihood assets in the study villages. Presence of other projects and lack of baseline data however, made this
study difficult to associate current access to livelihood assets with decentralised forest management.
However, whether legally, or illegally people are using the forests to improve their livelihoods. Unapproved
management plans and bylaws are a major governance problem facing implementation of decentralised
forest management in Tanzania. Nevertheless, the two decentralised approaches (JFM and CBFM) have the
potential to meet the general goals of improving forest resource condition, governance and livelihoods.
Therefore further research to critically review strategies for improving forest governance and livelihoods is
recommended.
