A Compulsory Research Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award of the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) Degree of Mzumbe University
Forests in Tanzania has a very important role in Tanzania’s economy, as the forest acts as the habitats of animals were by Tanzania is one of the richest countries in terms of biodiversity in the world and furthermore forests provide many per cent of energy resources, support the development of other sectors such as tourism and agriculture through the provision of water resources, soil protection and recycle atmospheric. The environmental laws specifically the Forest Act of 2002 they provides certain provision which provides for the protection of environment example Party XI of this Act provides for the offences and their penalties, so all this is to ensure that forest areas in Tanzania are protected. Despite of having the laws which protect the forest areas still in Tanzania the problem of illegal harvesting, forest burning, grazing in the forests reserves is alarming in high rates.
The study was conducted at Mbeya specifically in Rungwe district and Mbeya Town district where the field study was conducted and The study involved documentary review and field research by gathering relevant information from agencies enforcing forest laws, legal practitioners and ordinary citizens. The research paper has a total of four chapters where in chapter one the research gives the general introduction of the research paper, this includes background, statement of the problem, research question, objectives, significance of the research, literature reviews and research methodology. Chapter two gives the conceptual framework where by different concepts relating to the study have been discussed, chapter three gives the legal and institutional framework which govern the forest protection, chapter four gives the main discussion on the data presentation and analysis on the guidance of research questions and the last is chapter five which gives the conclusion and recommendations to the problem.
The research revealed that public officials entrusted on forest protection have no commitment to perform their duties as they lack cooperation among themselves and they do not have strong sharing of information as far as the protection of forest is concerned. Also, the law has weak as they do not have the enabling provisions for implementation of the environmental laws so as to ensure forest protection.