A Compulsory Research Report Submitted Partially Fulfillment of the Requirement for Award of the Bachelor of Laws Degree of the Mzumbe University.
The Public Trust Doctrine is a legal concept with ancient roots and it is increasingly
being examined as a framework for modern conservation. As its core the Public
Trust Doctrine is based on the idea that certain natural resources cannot be fairly or
effectively managed by private owners rather these natural resources should be held
in trust by government which must manage their consumptive use and protection on
behalf of presents and future citizens of the Tanzania.
Historically the Public Trust Doctrine applied to a limited set of natural resources
such as shellfish beds and submerged lands. Nowadays the Public trust Doctrine was
expanded by the courts and legal scholars whereby the definition of Public Trust
Doctrine include resources like wildlife, oceans and ecosystem services generally.
The purpose of this study was to examine the peculiarity of law in Tanzania on the
Public Trust Doctrine and Management of natural resources. Method of data
collection used are primary data and secondary data through the research was done
by a researcher the study found that the concept of the Public Trust Doctrine has
Constitution basis as provided under Art. 9(c) of the Constitution of the United
Republic of Tanzania, 1977 as amended time to time.
The doctrine explained in different scattered piece of legislations. Under Art.27 of
the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania, 1977 as amended time to time in
which state that every person has a duty to safeguard the natural resources of the
country which are owned collectively.
The findings of the research indicate that the laws governs the doctrine are not well
known to the society and also the problem of the doctrine is that it is hard to enforce
due to the fact that the legal basis of the doctrine provided under the part which is
non-judicial that is why the trustee violate the doctrine because there is no
enforcement from the public due to the non-judicial from the legal basis of the
doctrine.
Therefore due to the loophole in the legal framework of the public trust doctrine the
researcher need to examine the peculiarity of the law as a result of a solution of the
problem above.