Changing Access to Forest Resources in Tanzania

This paper provides an empirical exploration of the dependence of villagers on non-timber forest products in the Morogoro region in Tanzania, the decision rules that villagers use concerning where and how much they collect, how their collection changes with degradation, and the implications of introducing more restrictive access rules of participatory forest management. Villagers’ responses to increased degradation vary by forest product: fuelwood collection tends to be displaced to other forests in response to degradation, fewer forest fruits and vegetables are collected, and collection times increase considerably for weaving and building materials.