Forest Governance Hearing


BACKGROUND PURPOSE OF THE HEARING



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1. BACKGROUND

    1. PURPOSE OF THE HEARING


Information compiled in 1992 indicated that Tanzania possessed 33.5 million ha of forests and woodlands, 12.7 million ha of which were located in government forest reserves and other protected areas, and as many as 19 million ha which were located on un-reserved lands. There is high potential value in Tanzania’s forests due to royalty collections, exports and tourism. In addition to timber products, forests also provide woodfuels that supply 92% of Tanzania’s energy needs, beeswax and honey products, water catchment, carbon sequestration and they provide 730,000 person-years of employment1. However, poor management has led to the actual contribution of the forestry sector to the national economy being unrealized.
Despite these forest resources being a significant contributor to people’s livelihoods, by 1998 estimates of annual deforestation ranged from 130,000 to 500,000 ha with the greatest occurrence taking place in forests on unreserved lands2. The main causes of deforestation were determined to be the clearing for land for agriculture, overgrazing, wildfires, charcoal burning and the over harvesting of wood. Underlying the situation throughout the 1990s was the fact that, despite contributing 3% to GDP and to 10% of the nation’s exports, less than 1% of government’s budget was allocated to forest management3. It was also evident that there was inadequate involvement of grass roots communities in forest planning and management.
As a result of the situation prevailing at the time, beginning in 1998 the government introduced widespread sector reforms, which included laws requiring that all forest reserves prepare management plans and that the management of forests on un-reserved lands by villages, communities and individuals is promoted. The Forest Act of 2002 recognized the rights of villages to demarcate forest, draft plans and by-laws for its management and to establish a committee to administer the forest on behalf of the community. As part of the reforms the government intended to strengthen its regulation of forest harvesting and trade by introducing a new forestry agency. These reforms have meant that Tanzania is among African countries with the strongest policies, laws and regulations in place that provide different stakeholders, including communities, with rights and responsibilities to sustainably conserve, manage and benefit from forest resources.
The reforms have been partially successful with the area under community management increasing from 323,000 ha in 1999 to more than 2,000,000 ha in 2006, now representing 12% of forests on unreserved lands. Similarly, the number of villages participating in forestry has almost doubled from 544 villages in 1999 to 1,020 in 20064. At the same time the forestry authority has recently been transformed from a government department dependent on a budget allocation to an executive agency that has autonomy over its budget and staffing levels. Yet despite these successes, challenges facing the forestry sector remain. In particular, governance shortfalls, including corruption, irregular trade and collusion are major limiting factors reducing the effectiveness of current measures.
Through discussion and debates, civil society in Tanzania agreed that the biggest challenge facing forestry at all levels is related to governance of resources. Therefore, in a Tanzania Forest Working Group (TFWG) meeting held in September 2012, it was agreed that the issue of forest governance needs to be brought to national attention. To do so, the TFWG agreed that community perspectives and opinions need to drive the national discussion related to forest governance, which is why a ‘forest governance hearing’ was decided as a first step towards bringing attention to these issues.
A one-day hearing was held on 26 February 2013 at the New Africa Hotel in Dar-es-Salaam. The hearing focussed on testimonies from community representatives in relation to forest governance practices in their communities. A panel of experts was also selected from various sectors including government, civil society, politics, private sector and the development partners, that provided their comments as a reaction to the testimonies made. The panellists debated and responded to issues raised from the grass roots. The hearing was meant to help find a way forward regarding forest governance issues in Tanzania.


  1. OVERVIEW

    1. Forest Governance Hearing Objectives

Objectives:


  1. Community perspectives, experiences and opinions on forest governance issues are shared with (and listened to by) a national level audience

  2. Create a shared knowledge base about the challenges with forest governance in Tanzania and what needs to be done to address such forest governance issues

  3. Initiate an agenda for action based on perceptions, information and discussions

Outcomes:


  1. A shared knowledge base about the current situation on forest governance practices in Tanzania

  2. Understanding and identification of the key challenges leading to forest governance

  3. Identifying components to be addressed by the Tanzania Forestry Services Agency (TFS)

Other outcome:


  1. Exploring some of the ground for a potential a Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) approach in Tanzania.



    1. Approach to Forest Governance Hearing


The Forest Governance Hearing event was structured in a two phased process, which involved a pre-hearing meeting between the service provider and the testifiers one day prior to the hearing and the the full day hearing event itself.
The Forest Governance Hearing event resulted in the production of two documents, one being this workshop report in addition to a four page information brief that summarizes the main points and recommendations from the hearing event. The brief follows the standard TNRF-format.

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