Do Community Perceptions of Forest Management and Conservation Vary Across Wealth Groups? The Case of the Kilosa REDD + Initiative in Tanzania

Abstract

Various community groups tend to interact with their environments differently. Understanding how these groups interact with their forests provides important insights for promoting sustainable forest governance. This study focused on understanding community across wealth groups (poor, medium, better-off) of their perceptions on forest management and conservation under the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus (REDD+) initiative in Tanzania. Results showed that whereas community general awareness on forest management and conservation across wealth groups signi cantly varied, their perceptions on the extent of occurrences of several aspects/attributes of forest management and conservation were relatively symmetrical across all wealth groups. There was no signi cant difference in perceptions across the wealth group in the indicators of forest management and conservation. Community willingness to participate in forest management and conservation was also not signi cantly different across all wealth groups, with the exception of participation in training/workshop for which the difference was signi cant across wealth groups. Overall, community perceptions are of mixed results, however, they didn't vary much between wealth categories, either there was or wasn't signi cant difference. The observed similarities and variations across wealth groups within the community are a key to inform future REDD+ actions. Thus, policies, plans and strategies related to REDD+ should consider these dynamics.

A Productive Friction: Leveraging Misalignments Between Local Ecological Knowledge and Remotely Sensed Imagery for Forest Conservation Planning

“…For example, future work might ask what remotely sensed signals tend to be associated with high levels of consensus about how and where the environment is changing? Further, examining variation in perceptions of change within and between genders, ethnic groups, or economic classes might yield productive insights, as members of different groups often play different roles in resource-dependent communities (Hopping, Yangzong, and Klein 2016;Luizza et al 2013;Diaz-Reviriego et al 2016;Uisso et al 2023).…”

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“…Collaborative Forest Management fosters cooperation among diverse stakeholders emphasizing shared decision-making and conflict resolution. Community Conservation Reserves are established to protect specific ecosystems, wildlife habitats, and culturally significant sites, thereby contributing to biodiversity conservation [6]. Community-managed logging allows communities to engage in sustainable timber harvesting, with revenue-sharing among members.…”

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