3.2 National Forestry Policy

In 1998, the Tanzanian Government reviewed its 1953 Forest Policy and adopted the National Forestry Policy (NFP) by focusing on sustainable conservation of forest resources, the NFP seek to achieve its policy goal of "enhancing the contribution of the forest sector to the sustainable development of Tanzania and the conservation and management of natural resources for the benefit of present and future generations."¹ This new policy requires a legal framework which clearly spells out the mandates and responsibilities of named institutions be enacted to translate the goal into action.

NFP's objectives :

• Ensure sustainable supply of forest products and services by maintaining sufficient forest area efficient management;
• Increase employment and foreign exchange earnings through sustainable forest-based industrial development and trade;
• Ensure ecosystem stability through conservation of forest biodiversity, water catchments and soil fertility; and
• Enhance the national capacity to manage and develop the forest sector in collaboration with other stakeholders.

The NFP sets four priority areas for legislation and implementation: 1) forest land management; 2) forest-based industries and products; 3) ecosystem conservation and management; and 4) institutional and human resources.

NFP introduces a decentralized system of forest management which includes village forest reserves. Not until recently were district councils mandated to manage national forest reserves on behalf of the central government. Before 1998, the Regional Forest Officer collected licensing and revenues for the Central Government Forest Reserves with or without the attention of district authorities (Kilahama, Massao, 1999). Now, under the NFP, management responsibilities are delegated from the forest authorities to one or several executive agencies. "To ensure efficiency in forest management and conservation, the central government forest reserves will be managed by one or several specialized executive agencies or by the private sector…"²

The policy, however, still recognizes the existence of local government forest reserves, which will continue to be managed by local authorities, specialized executive agencies or even by the private sector. Designation of village forest reserves will be managed by the communities. " Village forest reserves will be managed by the village governments or other entities designated by village governments for this purpose, such as NGOs, user groups , associations, religious institutions, etc. The reserves will be demarcated on the ground, management objectives defined, and multi-purpose forest management plans prepared covering all different uses of forests."³

This approach allows villages to control the rate of environmental degradation despite various institutional constraints encountered. Granted appropriate user rights and security of tenure as incentives for sustainable forest management, local communities are likely to participate actively and effectively in the conservation and management of their forest resources.

Therefore, the FBD must designate forest reserve areas that will be managed as Joint Forest Management Areas. The problem at the community level in some areas, is that there are no well established community based organizations (e.g. NGOs or CBOs which are able to influence management of forestry activities). The NFP addresses this problem by stating, "in order to improve forest conservation and management, and to ensure equitable sharing of benefits amongst all stakeholders, joint agreements between the central government, specialized executive agencies, private sector and local governments, as appropriate in each case, and organized local communities or other organizations of people living adjacent to the forest will be promoted."

The NFP provides for mandates of main stakeholders in forest conservation and management. Specific mandates given to local governments and communities include: to manage local government forest reserves of conservation and biodiversity values; to regulate policy implementation; to conserve and manage village forest reserves and trees on farms; and to participate in joint management of conservation areas.

1. URT, National Forest Policy, 1998 p.14
2. Ibidem, page 16
3. Ibidem, page 21