My PhD research examines whether community-based forest management (CBFM) in Tanzania is meeting its triple objectives:
- Restoring forests
- Improving livelihoods
- Strengthening local governance
These objectives are particularly pertinent in Tanzania where deforestation and forest degradation is occurring at an alarming rate and persistent poverty is widespread.
Community-based forest management is based on the premise that those who live close to forests will manage the resource more effectively than distant authorities. It developed as state and market mechanisms were failing to deliver sustainable and equitable forest management in the Global South. CBFM is part of a wider trend since the 1980s, whereby central governments around the world have been increasingly encouraged to devolve natural resource management to local institutions to improve environmental and social outcomes.
To assess the impact of CBFM in Tanzania I will analyse social and ecological data collected gathered during a Darwin Initiative project led by RBGE. I aim to combine this with household survey data from other studies to analyse the livelihood impacts of CBFM at the regional (and possibly national) level.
