The role and effectiveness of traditional knowledge and institutions

Currently, there is increased recognition of the use and application of traditional knowledge and institutions as one of the strategies for effective and sustainability in forest management. Traditional knowledge and institutions provide various methods aimed at forest conservation, facilitate capacity building; participatory decision-making, and they can also modify the effect of factors thought to be driving force of deforestation. The objective of the study was to assess the role and effectiveness of traditional knowledge and institutions in forest management in Rungwe District, Tanzania. Objective (random) sampling was used to select three forest reserves managed traditionally and village for data collection. Most of management systems used by the government and government agencies in the management of forests resources are adopted from traditional institutions, however, their management is not effectives compared to the traditional institutions. It recommended that strength of traditional institutions in forest management will be incorporated into forest policy for effective management of this resource in Tanzania.