Assessing the land use fire tradeoffs and implications to livelihoods in REDD+ pilot area of Kilosa district, Tanzania

Abstract

The current study was conducted in Kilosa REDD+. pilot area to determine the land usefire tradeoffs and implication to livelihoods. In this study, fire regimes, uses of fire in landuse practices as a management tool were assessed and the opportunity cost of fire as a land-use management tool was determined. Data were collected through the use of household questionnaire survey, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. The collected data were analysed using SPSS and inferential statistics. Net Present Value was used to determine profitability of land use practices with a discount rate of 10%. The findings showed that fire usually OCCUlTed twice a year specifically in late August and early November and these fires were reported as severe causing great loss of ecosystem. On average, approximately 4ha of forest land was reported to be destroyed in each fire incidence. Most fires were caused during farm preparations or hunting and there were no reported cases of fire originating from pastoralists although they have been implicated in other studies. Regular and intense fire in the area could impact some livelihood strategies such as fanning and grazing. Economic assessment showed that some land-use practices such as agriculture, livestock keeping, pit sawing, charcoal making and hunting can be profitable without using fire as a management tool. On the contrary, profitability from honey gathering increased with fire. It is recommended that communities have to be encouraged to engage in modem land use practices that are sustainable and abandon the conventional practices that demand an input of fire in operation. However, there is a need of more emphasis on conservation education particularly fire suppression strategies at community level but also communities in collaboration with the District government should implement sustainable land management practises and lastly further economic valuation of environmental aspects in relation to livelihood strategies is necessary.