A SWOT analysis of community-based forest management policy as a basis for REDD+ in Tanzania

In developing countries, the failure of the policing model of forest management whereby the central government protected forest reserves by preventing local communities from using them led to the emergence of the Participatory Forest Management (PFM) policy. In Tanzania, PFM takes two main forms; Joint Forest Management (JFM) in which central government or district council owns the forest and the local people are involved in conservation. Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) policy as the second form whereby community is given the right to own and use the forest in the general land. The paper discusses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the policy of community -based forest management in Tanzania. Among the strengths are the government structures with strong village’s administrative structure, willingness of people to participate in CBFM initiatives, community-village collaboration and ecological sustainability. The fact that the approach is exogenous both in conception and funding, inadequacy of technical knowledge at the community level, inequality in cost and benefit sharing, poor infrastructure and poor governance of revenue accrued from CBFM are seen as weaknesses of CBFM. Opportunities for CBFM include appropriate national policies and international conventions, and the existence of vast forest areas on general land that provide room for the implementation of the CBFM activities. Threats to CBFM include; conflict of interest with the district and higher-level government, poor governance, and human-wildlife conflicts. The paper concludes by suggesting the way forward for tapping the strengths and opportunities of CBFM and addressing its weaknesses and threats.