Climate change and forest governance: towards a sustainable forest management of the half mile forest strip and adjacent communities in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania

Abstract

The study focused on the influence of climate change on forest governance at the Half Mile Forest Strip (HMFS) and adjacent villages in the Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania. Specifically, the study identified the impacts of climate change on the HMFS and adjacent communities, and examined the people’s perceptions on climate change in relation to forest governance. Further, the study examined the role of local institutions on forest governance and climate change resilience and adaptation strategies with associated policy interventions. The study adopted a mixed research designs whereby both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through different methods such as direct field observation, using semi-structured interviews, household surveys and focus group discussion. Data were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software and excel programs. Findings revealed that climate change has affected the forest ecosystems, agriculture and water resources in the adjacent villages. Using the Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient, it was revealed that there was a negative correlation between the impacts of climate change and the current forest condition. Forest governance was perceived as a control mechanism for forest degradation whereby restrictions on the use of forest resource, afforestation, and reforestation were undertaken as measures to mitigate climate change impacts and build resilience in the forest sector and to adjacent communities.