Optimising selected incentives for communities implementing joint forest management in catchment forest reserves in Uluguru and Udzungwa mountains, Tanzania
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Date
2013
Authors
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
Some Catchment Forest Reserves (CFRs) in Tanzania are managed in collaboration between the government and communities through Joint Forest Management Agreements (JMAs). In CFRs, harvesting of timber is strictly prohibited. This has led to minimal incentives for communities. To readdress this, optimisation of honey and carbon were considered to serve compensation for the foregone timber benefits. The overall objective of the study was to examine means of optimising incentives for communities implementing Joint Forest Management (JFM) in CFRs. Two sites in Morogoro and Iringa regions were selected for the study. About 152 circular plots were sampled for ecological data which was analysed by Microsoft Excel. About 164 households were interviewed. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS while the qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. Data for modeling were obtained within the ecological and socio-economic data sets and through rigorous literature review. Optimisation of incentives was done by Linear Programming using Microsoft Excel Solver. Stocking levels were higher in forests under JFM than forests without in both Iringa and Morogoro sites and the difference was statistically significant except in woodlands (p= 0.9049). FRs under JFM had slightly new disturbances than those without but the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.4752). The optimisation model revealed a return of USD 2 025 per year for Kimboza FR and USD 6 144 per year for NDU FR. Inclusion of illegally harvested wood in the model increased the profit to USD 29 286 per year for NDU FR. When labour was reduced, the profit further increased to USD 37 022 per year. These revenues were potential incentives for communities in forest conservation. Small returns in Kimboza were associated with small size of the forest (405 ha) which limited farther analysis from the model. Sensitivity analysis revealed that forest size between 615 and 1 536 ha gives a solution where both honey and carbon are optimally produced. It was concluded that, maximizing incentives through carbon storage in CFRs is worth in forests with more than 615 ha. Therefore, care need to be taken during selection of CFRs to be included in JFM regime.
Description
PhD-thesis
Keywords
Udzungwa forest reserve, Forest management, Uluguru forest reserve