Forests, Farms, and Fallows: The Dynamics of Tree Cover Transition in the Southern Part of the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania

Mathew Mpanda, Almas Kashindye, Ermias Aynekulu, Elvis Jonas, Todd S. Rosenstock and Richard A. Giliba
Additional contact information
Mathew Mpanda: EU Delegation to Tanzania, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 6114, Tanzania
Almas Kashindye: Forestry Training Institute, Olmotonyi, Arusha P.O. Box 943, Tanzania
Ermias Aynekulu: World Agroforestry (ICRAF), P.O. Box 30677, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Elvis Jonas: World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 6226, Tanzania
Todd S. Rosenstock: World Agroforestry (ICRAF), P.O. Box 30677, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Richard A. Giliba: School of Life Sciences and Bio-Engineering, The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha P.O. Box 447, Tanzania

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Forests and woodlands remain under threat in tropical Africa due to excessive exploitation and inadequate management interventions, and the isolated success stories of tree retention and tree cover transition on African agricultural land are less well documented. In this study, we characterize the status of tree cover in a landscape that contains forest patches, fallows, and farms in the southern part of Uluguru Mountains. We aimed to unveil the practices of traditional tree fallow system which is socially acceptable in local settings and how it provides a buffering effects to minimize forest disturbances and thus represents an important step towards tree cover transition. We assessed land cover dynamics for the period of 1995 to 2020 and compared tree stocking for forest patches, fallows, and farms. We found that tree biomass carbon stocks were 56 ± 5 t/ha in forest patches, 33 ± 7 t/ha in fallows, and 9 ± 2 t/ha on farms. In terms of land cover, farms shrank at intensifying rates over time for the entire assessment period of 1995–2020. Forest cover decreased from 1995–2014, with the reduction rate slowing from 2007–2014 and the trend reversing from 2014–2020, such that forest cover showed a net increase across the entire study period. Fallow consistently and progressively increased from 1995–2020. We conclude that traditional tree fallows in the study site remain a significant element of land management practice among communities, and there appears to be a trend towards intensified tree-based farming. The gains in fallowed land represent an embracing of a traditional land management system that supports rotational and alternate uses of cropping space as well as providing a buffering effect to limit over-exploitation of forests. In order to maximize tree cover and carbon stocks in the farm landscape, this well-known traditional tree fallow system can be further optimized through the incorporation of additional innovations.

Keywords: deforestation; shifting cultivation; traditional fallow; swiddens (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/6/571/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/6/571/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:6:p:571-:d:564487

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().