Otieno, Joseph Nicolao2026-07-282026-07-282000https://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/20.500.14820/7858Majority of local communities in the developing countries depend largely on medicinal plants to counteract common diseases as compared to the western medical services. This heavy reliance on medicinal plants results from a number of factors among which economic and cultural backgrounds plays a big role. Despite this importance of medicinal plants, there is lack of detailed basic information on their quantity, distribution and contribution to the livelihood of local communities. In order to get this information, there is a need for carrying out forest inventory and determine society-forest relations. However, classical forest inventories for decades have been and continue to focus on timber estimates. These timber estimates do not address medicinal plants because medicinal plants include both timber and non-timber plant species. Information on the quantity and quality of the forest resources and their value to the local communities can be obtained if biomass measurements are taken. This study sought to estimate the biomass of the forest resources and assess the contribution of medicinal plants to the welfare of local communities surrounding Duru- Haitemba forests and also the contribution of these plant species to the forest diversity. The study was conducted under two phases, phase one was Participatory Rural Appraisal, and this was aimed at generating information on the community and their perception on changes of forest biomass overtime. Phase two was for carrying out forest inventory and socio-economic surveys. Forest inventory was expected to give estimates of current biomass of the forest while socio-economic studies were expected to indicate society-forest relationship. In the case of the forest inventory, eight strata and forty-two sample units were systematically selected while forty-five households were randomly selected for socio­ economic studies. Questionnaire schedules, participant observation and checklists were used to gather information for society-forest relationships. Spreadsheet excel programme was used to analyze the forest resource data whilst Statistical Programme for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze socio-economic data. During the study, 199 species of trees, shrubs, herbs and grasses were identified. Out of this, medicinal plants constituted from 7.5% for grasses to 76.5% for tree species. It was found that biomass, stocking and diversity for species with diameter at breast height greater or equal to 10 cm have been significantly impoverished. The average biomass for all eight villages was40.5 t/ha and the stocking was 457 stems/ha. These relatively lower values are probably the consequences of mismanagement by the local government authorities who had a control on the forest from independence in 1961 to 1995, when communities around the forests reassumed control. Since then, the stocking of the forests has been improving. This improvement in forests stocking is especially for species with diameter at breast height less than 10 cm of replanting these rare species back to their natural habitats. In these community owned forests, labour cost of conserving the forest is shared among enthusiastic owners of the forests resources, who are villagers themselves.enBIomass inventoryLocal communitiesMedicinal plantsDeveloping countriesDuru-HaitembaBabati DistrictArushaTanzaniaThesis