Typology of Forest Users in West Usambara Tanzania and Implication to Forest Management

Abstract

The West Usambara landscape is a complex ecosystem in Tanzania known for its rich biodiversity and livelihood support within and beyond its scope. The community dependency on this forest places pressure on its resources, so this forest requires better management strategies. Previous studies on forest conservation ignored details on the heterogeneity of forest users around the forest fringes. Part of the challenge is to understand the characteristics, behavior, and variability of forest users to plan and inform management decisions. This study is an attempt to assess typologies of forest users, their perceptions, and their motivations for understanding better forest management and utilization. The data were collected from 159 randomly sampled households located in four villages bordering the forests, supplemented with focus group discussions and key informant interviews. A factor analysis identified three management and two utilization dimensions, while cluster analysis identified three typologies: high (HFIS), medium (MFIS), and low (LFIS) forest users. The typologies varied in their socioeconomic characteristics, management, and utilization index. The management and utilization index varied from low for HFIS and MFIS to medium for LFIS, indicating a possible difference in resource utilization as well as incentives for management efforts. A multinomial logit indicated further that age, training, and livestock ownership limited upward trends in forest utilization. These findings indicate that, to improve forest management in West Usambara, different management prescriptions are required to respond to the characteristics and variability of forest users (along typologies). Moreover, forest-linked income-generating activities should be encouraged to improve forest income and motivate villagers’ engagement in the forest activities.