Livelihoods count: when inclusive approach meets exclusion : a case study of community based forest management approach in Tanzania

Sammanfattning: By realizing the imbalanced focuses of Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) on livelihood improvement at community and household levels, this thesis specifically explores the impacts of CBFM on the livelihoods of forest-dependent poor households. By adopting the lens of exclusion, an analytical framework was established to connect three main concepts consisting of CBFM, exclusion and livelihoods. A single case study, in line with the main purpose of this thesis, was carried out in Mfyome village in Tanzania through mainly semi-structured interviews as data collection method. Findings revealed that, firstly, CBFM in Mfyome contributed to the exclusion of forest-dependent poor households in a way lacking considerations of those households in the design of CBFM. Secondly, those interviewed households were primarily influenced financially, which was shown as a significant decline in household incomes. Thirdly, the impacts of exclusion on those families had the potentials to result in more illegal logging which is against the forest protection aims of CBFM. Based on first three findings, two recommendations, with the hope of catching more attentions on this exclusion issue, were provided with regard to changes of attitudes toward forest-dependent poor’s role in CBFM and further improvements in livelihoods of those households.