A book chapter 10
Reduced deforestation and forest degradation ‘plus’ the role of conservation,
sustainable management of forests and enhanced carbon stock (REDD+)
has been singled out as one of the core strategies against climate change.
At the same time, forests offer important livelihoods. To acquire experience
on how to establish REDD+ ‘on the ground’, REDD+ pilot projects were
established in Tanzania. The pilots were expected to provide valuable insights
on many issues that will likely be encountered by both the government and
local communities as REDD+ develops to assist in future REDD+ initiative.
This study was conducted to draw lessons from two REDD+ pilot projects in
Kondoa and Rungwe districts in Dodoma and Mbeya regions, respectively.
Structured questionnaires for households with both closed and open ended
questions were used to collect socio-economic, institutional and livelihoods-related information. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques, participant
observation and focus group discussions (FGDs) were also employed. Results
show that land and forests are the main livelihood assets in the two pilot
project areas. Although REDD+ was generally accepted by most communities
in the pilots, there were some levels of scepticism based on their past land use
history. For example, the introduction of REDD+ in Kondoa faced rejection
from some villages due to fears over land grabbing and exclusion from forest
access. On the contrary, villages which depend solely on state-owned forests did
not object to REDD+ as they are used to resource use exclusion mechanisms
from such tenure systems. Assessment of the trial payments showed that most
of the people would consider stopping deforestation and forests degradation
if they get compensation relative to the losses of income they will encounter.
Communities prefer payments in form of community investments rather
than paying cash to individuals. It was observed as well that at the local level
parallel governance structures for REDD+ have increasingly become a source of
intra-village conflicts. In fact, the livelihood of the poor inhabitants is directly
hooked to surrounding forests and natural services with growing future needs
of land per household that threaten the future of REDD+. On the other hand,
land use plans go through a relatively too long process and are costly. Thus, the
government should consider preparing plans for all villages to reduce the costs
of planning for natural resource management and use.