The Role of Forest Certification in Enhancing Livelihoods of Local Communities: Evidence from Certified Village Land Forest Reserves at Nanjirinji and Likawage Villages, Southern Part of Tanzania

Abstract

Community-based Forest Management (CBFM) has emerged as a vital tool for promoting sustainable forest management and improving the livelihoods of local communities dependent on forest resources. This paper examines the role of forest certification within CBFM, mainly Village Land Forest Reserves (VLFR), in enhancing the livelihoods of communities and forest governance in the southern part of Tanzania. The villages were selected purposively using five criteria, such as the existence of an up-to-date management plan, good record keeping, an active and functional forest committee, good experience in implementing Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) group certification and forest size. Mixed-methods approach, including household surveys, key informant interviews and field observations, were used to collect information. During the household surveys, random sampling was used to select households. The sample size of 85 households were surveyed, where 39 were from Likawage and 46 from Nanjirinji village. Content analysis was used for qualitative data, where the data were compiled and responses coded, identifying the range of responses to each question, creating matrices in SPSS that cross-listed each response variable by village. These were done through descriptive statistics, where measures of central tendency, such as means, median, percentage and counts, were computed. The results indicate that certified forests improve communities’ livelihood through increased employment opportunities, access to markets for forest products and better forest governance. Additionally, certification has contributed to capacity-building and the empowerment of local communities in forest management. Challenges such as limited financial resources, inadequate knowledge, and logistical constraints hindered the full realisation of certification benefits. The study concludes that forest certification offers significant potential for improving livelihoods. It reveals significant social, environmental and economic benefits, where 92 and 98 percent of Likawage and Nanjirinji A households, respectively, responded that there are some improvements in education, healthcare and food security. To maximise the benefits of forest certification, efforts should focus on strengthening market access, capacity building, and policy support. Improving trade linkages, infrastructure, and value-added processing can enhance economic returns for certified communities. Expanding training programs on sustainable forestry, business skills, and cooperative management will empower locals to better utilise certification benefits.