Historical path of forestry and the role of ‘Ujamaa’ ideology to today’s policy of community forest management in Tanzania

Draft paper on Forest resource management history in TanzaniaTanzania was colonised by the Germany in the late 19 century and after World War II it was put under British mandatory by the United Nations. Later on in 1961, the country got her independence and adopted the capitalistic economy. Through the Arusha Declaration in 1967, it abandoned the capitalistic and adopted a socialistic policy to guide her socio-economic development. This policy was named ‘Ujamaa’ (family-hood) because it had more emphasis on African socialistic cooperation. Socialism was pursued by Julius K. Nyerere who was the first president of Tanzania. This review explored the forest management path from pre-colonial period to the today’s regime where community forest is a main concept. It was adopted by the Tanzanian forest policies of 1998 and reviesed in 2012. The study revealed that colonialism and introduction of Christianity diluted the traditional systems that were used by most communities for management of forests. During Ujamaa and resettlement of isolated rural populations in central villages more forests were cleared to meet immediate wood demands. Rural dwellers lost control of their traditional land and lost lives due to diseases and wild animals. Despite these shortfalls, socialism/Ujamaa created a platform for better forest management through political stability, decentralised governance and decreased levels of forest-based resources dependency especially for food and medicines. Forests managed under Ujamaa village governments had better conditions than the rest of forests. Ujamaa was the basis for community resource management of today. The first policy with community participation concept was enacted in 1998 and the forest sector was the pioneer of this. Consequently we can conclude that, together with external influence, Ujamaa formed a basis for Participatory forest Management (PFM) in Tanzania