Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Evolution and Diversification of Community Forestry Regimes in Babati District, Tanzania

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Small-scale Forestry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Since the 1980s many tropical countries have promoted community forestry (CF). Gradually, various forms of community forest management regimes were developed in response to decentralization processes in the forest administration or the government administration. The emergence of community forestry regime (CFR) complexes and their evolutionary pathways have still been little explored. In Tanzania, Babati District is a pioneer in the development of CF. This paper assesses how emergence of a CFR complex is related to dynamic institutional interactions at local community level and bureaucratic level. It is demonstrated that evolution and diversity of CF regimes is associated with (a) a partial bureaucratic deconcentration of the government’s administrative authority over forests from national level to district level, and (b) democratic decentralization in the form of a partial devolution of formal management authority over forests from governmental authorities to local communities and individual people. Also, it is shown that endogenous changes in the norms and principles of the traditional systems of indigenous forest management occurred, calling for formulation of policy objectives that help to sustain local management practices.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agrawal A (2001) Common property institutions and sustainable governance of resources. World Dev 29(10):1649–1672

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agrawal A, Gibson CC (1999) Enchantment and disenchantment: the role of community in natural resource conservation. World Dev 27(4):629–649

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agrawal A, Ribot J (1999) Accountability in decentralization: a framework with South Asian and West African cases. J Dev Areas 33(4):473–502

    Google Scholar 

  • Agrawal A, Chhatre A, Hardin R (2008) Changing governance of the world’s forests. Science 320(5882):1460–1462

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Akida A, Blomley R (2008) Trends in forest ownership, forest resources tenure and institutional arrangements: are they contributing to better forest management and poverty reduction? Case study from the republic of Tanzania Understanding forest tenure in Africa: opportunities and challenges for forest tenure diversification. Food and Agricultural Organization of UN, Forest Policy and Institutions, Working Paper No. 14, FAO, pp 305–333

  • Arnold JEM (2001) Forest and people. 25 years of Community forestry. FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Barr C, Resosudarmo IAP, Dermawan A, McCarthy J (2006) Decentralization of forest administration in Indonesia: implications for forest sustainability, economic development and community livelihoods. CIFOR, Bogor, p 175

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkes E, Colding J, Folke C (2000) Rediscovery of traditional ecological knowledge as adaptive management. Ecol Appl 10(5):1251–1262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhattacharya AK, Basnyat B (2005) Decentralisation and community forestry programmes in Nepal: issues and challenges. Int For Rev 7(2):147–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Blomley T, Ramadhani H (2006) Going to scale with participatory forest management: early lessons from Tanzania. Int For Rev 8(1):93–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Chhetri BBK, Larsen HO, Smith-Hall C (2012) Law enforcement in Community Forestry: consequences for the poor. Small Scale For. Available at doi:10.1007/s11842-011-9194-7. Accessed 24 Feb 2012

  • Cleaver F (2002) Reinventing institutions: bricolage and the social embeddedness of natural resource management. Eur J Dev Res 14(2):11–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Koning J (2011) Reshaping institutions. Bricolage processes in smallholder forestry in the Amazon. Dissertation, Wageningen University

  • Donoghue EM, Cubbage FW, Mercer DE (2003) Contract NGOs in community- based forest management in Philippines. J Sustain For 17(4):47–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FAO (1978) Forestry for local community development. Forestry Paper No. 7, Rome

  • FAO (2010) Forest policy, legal and institutional framework information report

  • Frost P, Campbell B, Luckery M, Mutamba M, Mandondo A, Kozanayi W (2007) In search of improved rural livelihoods in semi-arid regions through local management of natural resources; lessons from case studies in Zimbabwe. World Dev 35(11):1961–1974

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • German L, Masuki K, Gojjan Y, Odenya J, Geta E (2006) Beyond the farm. A look at livelihoods constraints in the Eastern African Highlands. AHI working paper No 12. African Highlands Initiative, p 19

  • Gibson C, Ostrom E, McKean M (2000) People and forests: communities, institutions, and governance. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Havnevik K (2006) Successful community based forest management in Northern Tanzania: reflections and theoretical implications. In: Havnevik K, Negash T, Beyene A (eds) Of global concern: rural lural livelihood dynamics and natural resource governance. SIDA, Stockholm, pp 165–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphreys D (1999) The evolving forest regime. Glob Environ Change 9(3):251–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iddi S (2002) Community participation in forest management in the United Republic of Tanzania of Tanzania. Proceeding of second international workshop on participatory forestry in Africa, defining the way forward: sustainable livelihood and sustainable forest management through participatory forestry, 18–22 Feb 2000. FAO, Rome Italy, Arusha International Conference Centre, 18–22 Feb 2000, Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, pp 59–67

  • Johansson L (1991) Successful tree growers: why people grow tree in Babati District, Tanzania. Working paper 155, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences/IRDC, Uppsala

  • Kajembe GC, Ngaga YM, Chamshama SAO, Njana MA (2009) Performance of participatory forest management in the project titled applied research in PFM. In: Nshubemki L, Chamshama SAO, Mbwambo L, Balama C (eds) Participatory forest management (PFM) research workshop, pp 93–110

  • Kant S, Berry RA (2001) A theoretical model of optimal forest regimes in developing economies. J Inst Theor Econ 157(2):331–355

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kistler S (2009) The political ecology of community-based forest management in Suledo, Tanzania. Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway

    Google Scholar 

  • Krasner SD (1982) Structural causes and regime consequences: regimes as intervening variables. Int Org 36(2):185–205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar S (2002) Does “participation” in common pool resource management help the poor? A social-cost-benefit analysis of joint forest management in Jharkhand, India. World Develop 30:763–782

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson AM, Soto F (2008) Decentralization of natural resources governance regimes. Ann Rev Environ Res 33(1):213–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larson AM, Barry D, Dahal GR, Colfer CJP (2010) Forest for people: community rights and forest tenure reforms. Earthscan, London, Washingon, DC, p 263

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence A (2000) Forestry, forest users and research: new ways of learning. ETFRN, Wageningen, Netherlands/ANN-ETFRN, Vienna, Austria

  • Lescuyer G (2012) Sustainable forest management at local scale: a comparative analysis of community forests and domestic forests in Cameroon. Small Scale For. Available at doi:10.1007/s11842-012-9199-x. Accessed 24 Feb 2012

  • Lund JF (2007) Is small beautiful? Village level taxation of natural resources in Tanzania. Public Adm Dev 27(4):307–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maro P (1974) Population and land resources in Northern Tanzania: the dynamics of change 1920–1970. A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota. University of Minnesota

  • Mayers J, Bass S (1999) Policy that works for forests and people: real prospects for forest governance and livelihoods. Policy overview. International Institute for Environment and Development, London

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy JF (2000) The changing regime: forest property and reformasi in Indonesia. Dev Change 31(1):91–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munyanziza E, Wiersum KF (1999) Indigenous knowledge of miombo trees in Morogoro, Tanzania. Indig Knowl Dev Monit 7(2):10–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphree MW (1994) The role of institutions in community-based conservation. In: Western D, Wright RM, Strum S (eds) Natural connections: perspectives in Community-based conservation. Island Press, Washington, DC, pp 403–427

    Google Scholar 

  • North DC (1990) Institutions, institutional change and economic performance. Cambridge University Press, New York, p 152

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nygren A (2005) Community-based forest management within the context of institutional decentralization in Honduras. World Dev 33(4):639–655

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petersen L, Sandhöven A (2001) Forest policy reform and the role of incentive in Tanzania. For Policy Econ 2:39–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Punch KF (2005) Introduction to social research: quantitative and qualitative approaches. SAGE Publications, London, p 320

    Google Scholar 

  • Rayner J, Buck A, Katila P (2010) Embracing complexity: meeting the challenges of international forest governance. A global assessment report. Prepared by the Global Forest Expert Panel on the International Forest Regime. IUFRO World Series, Volume 28, IUFRO, Vienna

  • REPOA (2008) The oversight processes of local councils in Tanzania. Final report. Research on poverty alleviation

  • Ribot JC, Agrawal A, Larson AM (2006) Recentralizing while decentralizing: how national governments reappropriate forest resources. World Dev 34(11):1864–1886

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Semboja J, Therkildsen O (1994) Decentralization, participation and spatial equity in rural tanzania: a comment. World Dev 22(5):807–810

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simonsson L (2004) Environmental assessment of landscape changes. An interdisciplinary studies in rural Tanzania. PhD dissertation, Uppsala, Sweden

  • Sunseri T (2005) ‘Something else to burn’: forest squatters, conservationists, and the state in modern Tanzania. J Mod African Stud 43(3):609–640

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor PL (2000) Producing more with less? Community forestry in Duranga, Mexico in an era of trade liberalization. Rural Sociol 65(2):253–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thanh TN, Sikor T (2006) From legal acts to actual powers: devolution and property rights in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. For Policy Econ 8(4):397–408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vihemaki H (2005) Politics of participatory forest management: case from the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania. J Transdiscipl Environ Study 4(2):1–16 TES Special Issue

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiersum KF (1997) Indigenous exploitation and management of tropical forests: an evolutionary continuum in forest-people interactions. Agric Ecosyst Environ 63(1):1–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiersum KF (2004) Social and community forestry. In: Burley J, Evans J, Youngquist JA (eds) Encyclopedia of forest science. Elsevier Ltd, Amsterdam, pp 1136–1143

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wiersum KF, Humphries S, Van Bommel S (2012) Certification of community forestry enterprises: experiences with incorporating community forestry in a global system for forest governance. Small Scale For. Available at doi:10.1007/s11842-011-9190-y. Accessed 27 March 2012

  • Wily LA (1997) Finding the right institutions and legal framework for community based forest management. The Tanzanian case. Special publication. Centre for International Forestry Research, p 57

  • Wily AL (2000) The evolution of community-based forest management in Tanzania. In: Proceeding of international workshop on community forestry in Africa. Participatory forest management: a strategy for sustainable forest management in Africa. Banjul, the Gambia. FAO, Rome Italy, pp 127–143

  • Wily AL (2001) Forest management and democracy in Eastern and Southern Africa: lesson from Tanzanaia. International institute for environment and development. Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods Programme, p 20

  • Wily AL, Mbaya S (2001) Land, people, and forests in eastern and southern Africa at the beginning of the 21st century: the impact of land relations on the role of communities in forest future. IUCN Eastern Africa Regional Office

  • Yasmi Y (2007) Institutionalization of conflict capability in the management of natural resources: theoretical perspective and emperical experience in Indonesia, PhD Thesis, Wageningen University

  • Ylhäisi J (2003) Forest privatisation and the role of community in forests and nature protection in Tanzania. Environ Sci Policy 6(3):279–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zahabu E (2008) Sinks and sources: a strategy to involve forest communities in Tanzania in global climate policy. University of Twente, Enschede, p 235

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors of this paper wish to acknowledge the assistance of Ford Foundation International Fellowship Programme, Tanzania for providing scholarship to the first author to pursue PhD study at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. The authors also wish to thank REPOA—Research on Poverty Alleviation, Tanzania for funding research work which forms the basis of this paper. We also thank the staff of Babati District Council and Orgat Consulting Firm for their cordial cooperation during fieldwork. Sincere thanks also go to farmers at Ayasanda, Endanachan, Boay and Haraa villages in Babati for providing useful research data.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Continuing Education, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P. O. Box 3044, Morogoro, Tanzania

    Innocent H. Babili

  2. Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group, Wageningen University, P. O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    F. Wiersum

Authors
  1. Innocent H. Babili
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. F. Wiersum
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Innocent H. Babili.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Babili, I.H., Wiersum, F. Evolution and Diversification of Community Forestry Regimes in Babati District, Tanzania. Small-scale Forestry 12, 539–557 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-012-9228-9

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-012-9228-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation