International Journal of Modern Social Sciences, 2016, 5(2): 75-88 International Journal of Modern Social Sciences ISSN: 2169-9917 Journal homepage: www.ModernScientificPress.com/Journals/IJMSS.aspx Florida, USA Article Assessment of Implementation of Joint Forest Management (JFM) in Nou Forest, Mbulu District, Tanzania Ahmad Kanyama1,* and John G. Kacheche2 1Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Dodoma, P.O. Box 395, Dodoma 2 Department of Land and Natural Resources, P.O.Box 16, Msalala, Shinyanga * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: [email protected] Article history: Received 16 January 2016, Received in revised form 25 March 2016, Accepted 28 April 2016, Published 10 May 2016. Abstract: This paper assesses the performance of Joint forest management (JFM) in the implementation of Nou Forest project. The objective of this paper is four fold: (i) to identify changes of the quality of Nou Forest since establishment of JFM in 2001 (ii) to establish how the community and other stakeholders participate in JFM (iii) to establish the livelihoods benefit for villagers under JFM (iv) to identify the constraints in the JFM project. Results of this study have shown that villagers around Nou Forest have benefited from the forest in the form improved availability of water due to the increase of rain, increased firewood availability, increase of pasture, availability of medicinal plants and establishment of economic activities such as raffia weaving and beekeeping. However, JFM activities in Nou forest project are constrained by weak government financial support, corruption, inadequate management of revenue, unhappy villagers for restrictions to access forest resources, poor participation and coordination of stakeholders in the management of Nou Forest project. This paper concludes that people living adjacent to Nou forest can be the most effective managers of forest resources, but for this to occur, all stakeholders should be part of decision-making process in all stages and aspects of forest management from planning to implementation. Keywords: Joint forest management (JFM), Nou forest, Mbulu district. Copyright © 2016 by Modern Scientific Press Company, Florida, USA Int. J. Modern Soc. Sci., 2016, 5(2) : 75-88 76 1. Introduction Tanzania has about 33 million hectares of forest land, of which 57% (around 19 million hectares) is largely unprotected and lies outside government forest reserves (URT, 2003). Government’s capacity to protect forests has been progressively deteriorating because of declining budgets and human resources (Kajembe and Mgoo, 1999; Luoga et al., 2006). With increased population and development needs, the situation tends to become worse, as people tend to exploit the forests beyond the management objectives. Major threats to Tanzanian forests include; rampant pit sawing, wild honey harvesting using fire, firewood and charcoal harvesting, harvesting for building materials, annual fires, settlements and cultivation (URT, 1998). Following the new forest policy of 1998, Participatory forest Management, (PFM) emerged as a form of forest management. According to URT (2003), The policy objectives of PFM are to improve forest quality through sustainable management practices, to improve livelihoods through increased forest revenues and secure supply of subsistence forest products and to improved forest governance at village and district levels through effective and accountable natural resource management institutions(Blomley and Idd 2009). PFM also encompasses a wide range of different co- management arrangements with different levels of control from relatively conservative “benefit sharing” to genuine “community-based natural resource management” where local communities have full control over management of the resource and the allocation of costs and benefits (Hall et al., 2009). Joint Forest Management (JFM) under the umbrella of Participatory Forest Management (PFM) emerged in 1998 in Tanzania (URT, 1998) and was introduced in Nou Forest in 2001 (URT, 2004). JFM, a relatively new approach in forest management in Tanzania advocates the role of forests to the livelihood of rural people as a way both protecting Tanzania’s forest and reducing rural poverty (Dubois, 1999). JFM develops strong partnerships between forest villages and the government’s Forestry Department (URT, 1998). Partnership is based around jointly defined roles and responsibilities regarding forest use, protection and development (Blomley and Iddi, 2009). Under JFM, the user (local communities) and the owner (government) manage the forest resource together. The two parties share the objectives of forest protection and sustainable forest-based livelihoods. Both parties share the costs and benefits of JFM between them (URT, 2007). JFM as a bottom up approach in forest management with strategies of involving communities and other stakeholders in forest management is based on understanding that Local communities have a significant role in improving forest management and their participation can therefore contribute significantly to effective management of these resources (URT, 1998). In Nou Forest, the JFM project is run in partnership with community village governments, village natural resource committees and communities (Lemenih and Bekele, 2007). The objective of this article is four fold: (i) to identify Copyright © 2016 by Modern Scientific Press Company, Florida, USA Int. J. Modern Soc. Sci., 2016, 5(2) : 75-88 77 changes of the quality of Nou Forest since establishment of JFM in 2001 (ii) to establish how the community and other stakeholders participate in JFM (iii) to establish the livelihoods benefit for villagers under JFM (iv) to identify the constraints in the JFM project. 2. Study Area Like other forests reserves in Tanzania, Nou Forest has been experiencing severe deforestation and forest degradation before the establishment of JFM (Luoga et al., 2005). The forest is located in Mbulu and Babati districts in Manyara region, 8 km from Mbulu town, and 30 km from Babati town. The reserve covers the southern part of the Mbulu highland plateau from an altitude of 1800 to 2416 m, with most of the reserve above 2150 m (Pereira, 1958.). The Mbulu district lies between latitudes 3° and 4° south of the equator and the longitudes 34° and 35° East of Greenwich. The altitude of the district ranges from 1000 meters to 2400 meters in the Eastern part of the Mbulu highlands (Mbulu District Council, 2007). The location is situated 220 kilometers north (15°) of the approximate center of Tanzania and 516 kilometers north west (306°) of the main commercial city center of Dar es Salaam and 8 km and 30 km from Mbulu and Babati towns respectively. The reserve covers the southern part of the Mbulu highland plateau from an altitude of 1800 to 2416 m, with most of the reserve above 2150m (Pereira, 1958.). Four villages were purposefully selected for this study because of their adjacent location to the Nou forest which is under Joint forest management. The villages are Boboa, Yaeda Ampa, Mongahay and Arri which belong to Mbulu District. The forest area is characterized by oceanic rainfall with continental temperatures. Rainfall distribution varies from high precipitation to lower precipitation depend on altitude of an area (Mung’ong’o and Jengo, 1991). Estimated rainfall is 700 mm/year on drier western slopes and 1500 mm/year on higher eastern slopes with marked mist effect at higher altitudes. Nou forest area has a biannual rainfall model having a short and long season (Ruffu and Sigwa, 1990). Shorter rains fall mostly in October to December and the long rains in February to May (Mung’ong’o and Jengo, 1991). 3. Methodology Data collection methods included literature review, household questionnaire survey, key informants interviews and participant observations. Questionnaires and interviews were used to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data. Pre-testing of questionnaire was carried out before being administered to sampled households. The study area had total number of 1176 household and a sample size of 100 households (about 10%) sufficed for the questionnaire survey ( see also, Chisnall, 1986) — 30 households in Yaeda Ampa, 25 households in Arri, 20 households in Boboa and 25 households in Mongahay. Interviews were conducted with key informants involving one village executive officer for Copyright © 2016 by Modern Scientific Press Company, Florida, USA Int. J. Modern Soc. Sci., 2016, 5(2) : 75-88 78 each village and respective village environmental committees. Other key informants involved were the District Forest Officer (DFO), the District Catchment Forest manager (DCFM) and staff of an NGO, FARM AFRICA. Focus Group Discussion were carried out involving 10 community members with equal representation of five men and five women in each village. Participant observation involved wandering around the Nou forest area and adjacent villages observing activities carried out in the forest and taking photographs. Through observation, it was possible to see the different activities carried out in Nou forest and how they impacted on the quality of the Nou forest. Documentary review from various documents such as books, journals, review articles, and official reports from published and unpublished documents was done for collection of secondary data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 16.0) tool was used to compute mean, display frequency distribution and percentage and for drawing histograms. Cross tabulation