From Users to Custodians : Changing Relations between People and the State in Forest Management in Tanzania

Wily, Liz Alden ; Dewees, Peter A.

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AGRICULTURAL POLICY;    AGRICULTURE;    BIODIVERSITY;    CATCHMENT;    CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2569
RP-ID  :  WPS2569

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Central control of forests takesmanagement responsibility away from the communities mostdependent on them, inevitably resulting in tensions. Likemany African countries, Tanzania--which has forest orwoodland cover over 30-40 percent of its land--establishedcentral forestry institutions at a time when there waslittle need for active management and protection becausepopulation pressures were low. But in the face of scarcepublic resources and burgeoning demand from the growingpopulation for agricultural landand woodland products, therehas been growing recognition of the need to bringindividuals, local groups, and communities into the policy,planning, and management process if woodlands are to remainproductive in the coming decades. Tanzania established itsfirst three community-owned and -managed forest reserves inSeptember 1994. Today, supported by substantive policyreforms that largely grew out of the early experiences withcommunity-based management, more than 500 villages own andmanage forest reserves, and anoher 500 or so smaller socialunits and individuals have recognized reserves. Jointmanagement by the state and the people is getting underwayin at least four government-owned forest reserves.Theauthors describe the evolution of community-based forest andwoodland management in Tanzania and the underlying policy,legal, and institutional framework. They draw together someof the lessons from this experience and review emergingissues. They find that the most successful initiativesinvolving communities and individuals have been those thatmoved away from a user-centric approach (like that oftenused in South Asia) and toward an approach based on the ideathat communities can be most effective when they are fullyinvolved in all aspects of decisionmaking about managementand protection. This suggests that the government shouldallow communities to become engaged as managers in their ownright, rather than as passive participants who merely agreeto the management parameters defined by the government. TheTanzanian experience has shown that community-based forestand woodland management can be an integral part ofinitiatives that seek to improve governance over naturalresources by improving accountability and by democratizingdecisionmaking at the local level.