Mainstreaming Participatory Forestry within the Local Government Reform Process in Tanzania

Abstract

"Mainland Tanzania has one of the most advanced community forestry jurisdictions in Africa. Participatory Forest Management (PFM) has become a central strategy of the country’s forest policy, laws and programmes. Until recently, PFM had been facilitated by area-based projects working with local partners such as individual local governments and non-government organisations and focusing on particular forest resources. The government has recently decided to mainstream service delivery through national and local government institutions, supported by direct block grants to local governments. In this paper the author describes some of the experiences of the government’s Forestry and Beekeeping Division in institutionalising participatory forestry. He also outlines some particular challenges for the process against the backdrop of the government’s decentralisation and local government reforms and then draws a number of lessons have been learned from this process."