Entrust the care of forests to the people who live there? It works for Tanzania
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Version 0 of 1. This is a big year for forests. They’ll be central to the UN climate change conference in Paris at the year end – the biggest since Copenhagen – where it’s hoped the ever-elusive binding deal on carbon emissions will be struck. Forest protection is also key to the sustainable development goals UN member states agreed last month. And this year, some countries have signed pacts to preserve their trees, among them Liberia’s with Norway. While few people would dispute the value of forests, strategies to keep them intact have all too often been ineffective. My home country, Tanzania, is an exception – and one of Africa’s rare success stories. Tanzania’s government has pioneered a simple, yet often overlooked, approach to preserving forests – its forest communities take care of them. As other African countries explore new ways to manage their trees, the lessons from this merit reflection. Related: Global goals can deliver on 2C and new development finance – here's how | Owen Barder, Alex Evans and Alice Lépissier About 70% of land in Tanzania is so-called village land – governed by locally elected village councils. More than 2m hectares of that – an area almost as big as Rwanda – is community-owned forest. The community forestry model is like a democratisation of forest resources – local populations collectively decide how to manage their forest, sharing its socioeconomic and ecological benefits without government pressure or the exploitation of global markets. If done well, this economic model does what so many others fail to do – human development is achieved without compromising environmental integrity. Whereas much of forested Africa has given way to environmentally and socially devastating industries like large-scale logging, mining and agribusiness, in Tanzania forest communities have created a sustainable source of income through activities like the artisanal harvesting of timber, commercial beekeeping and butterfly farming, and the sale of vegetables, insects and herbs. The environmental dividends are significant. Communities have a powerful incentive to protect and nurture forests over time, and by shifting the balance of power away from elites and towards the majority, citizens can limit state capture of their resources and prevent deal-making with outsiders for private gain. From a government perspective, the approach represents a very low-cost way to manage forests effectively. The success of the community forestry model hinges on a number of factors. It might seem obvious that the people who live in or around forests are best-placed to protect them, but often they lack the legal rights and the government support they need to do so effectively. Research globally has shown that when governments strengthen the rights of communities to land and forest resources, loggers and extractive companies – operating legally or otherwise – are more likely to be kept out. Recognising collective land rights, rather than more individualistic ownership rights, laid the foundation for successful reform in Tanzania. Getting power and decision structures right is critical, too. A key factor in Tanzania has been democratic and accountable governance by the communities. Up to 14,000 elected community governments were given jurisdiction over resource rights within their local areas. Provided with technical assistance and training to improve sustainable forest use and market access, these institutions have helped pre-empt and prevent elites from capturing benefits. Accountability functions inwardly, too. If village leaders are tempted into wrongdoing they are fined. This said, not all village governments function well. From time to time they try to wrest lands from communities, and sometimes they are successful. Additionally, many local communities are poor and environmental pressures, including drought, can cause tension between neighbouring communities. Related: Cambodia forest communities confront illegal loggers as authorities look away Sub-Saharan Africa performs poorly compared with Latin America on community forest ownership. According to the Rights and Resources Initiative, it would take the Congo basin 250 years to catch up with levels of community ownership in the Amazon basin. Forests affect all of us, so their protection is of global concern. As countries like Liberia begin to rethink strategies for keeping their trees, governments should take heed of the fact that across continents, deforestation rates in community forests with strong legal recognition and government protection are dramatically lower than in forests outside those areas. • Dr Felician Kilahama is the former director of forestry at Tanzania’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. On 6 October he will speak at a conference on Rethinking Liberia’s Forests, held in Monrovia |