Lessons and Implications for REDD+ Implementation Experiences from Tanzania

A book chapter 10Reduced deforestation and forest degradation ‘plus’ the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhanced carbon stock (REDD+) has been singled out as one of the core strategies against climate change. At the same time, forests offer important livelihoods. To acquire experience on how to establish REDD+ ‘on the ground’, REDD+ pilot projects were established in Tanzania. The pilots were expected to provide valuable insights on many issues that will likely be encountered by both the government and local communities as REDD+ develops to assist in future REDD+ initiative. This study was conducted to draw lessons from two REDD+ pilot projects in Kondoa and Rungwe districts in Dodoma and Mbeya regions, respectively. Structured questionnaires for households with both closed and open ended questions were used to collect socio-economic, institutional and livelihoods-related information. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques, participant observation and focus group discussions (FGDs) were also employed. Results show that land and forests are the main livelihood assets in the two pilot project areas. Although REDD+ was generally accepted by most communities in the pilots, there were some levels of scepticism based on their past land use history. For example, the introduction of REDD+ in Kondoa faced rejection from some villages due to fears over land grabbing and exclusion from forest access. On the contrary, villages which depend solely on state-owned forests did not object to REDD+ as they are used to resource use exclusion mechanisms from such tenure systems. Assessment of the trial payments showed that most of the people would consider stopping deforestation and forests degradation if they get compensation relative to the losses of income they will encounter. Communities prefer payments in form of community investments rather than paying cash to individuals. It was observed as well that at the local level parallel governance structures for REDD+ have increasingly become a source of intra-village conflicts. In fact, the livelihood of the poor inhabitants is directly hooked to surrounding forests and natural services with growing future needs of land per household that threaten the future of REDD+. On the other hand, land use plans go through a relatively too long process and are costly. Thus, the government should consider preparing plans for all villages to reduce the costs of planning for natural resource management and use