Tanzania Overview

Figure 1 Tanzania : click to zoom

Tanzania is a country located in Eastern Africa, a sovereign state formed in 1964 from the union of two separate states of Tanganyika and Zanzibar ¹⁴, ⁷. Approximately land cover of 364,900 square miles, Tanzania is the largest country in both overall size and population density, with a population of 63,418,000 as of 2022 ⁷. Home to the Earth’s third largest freshwater lake, Lake Victoria, and Africa’s highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, marks Tanzania for its uniqueness and one of the fastest growing cities, Dar es Salaam ⁷.

Due to the country’s proximity to the equator, there is a tropical climate with rainfall and temperatures heavily influenced by elevation and wind patterns, different areas of Tanzania have reflecting ecosystems due to this ¹⁴. With vegetation in the forms of forest, woodland, bushland, thicket, grasslands, swamps, deserts, and semi deserts ¹⁴. Across Tanzania all these ecosystems are being affected by the growing human populations, leading to extensive land use conflicts to support population demands. Figure 2. illustrates an overview of the different land covers found in Tanzania, most of which are effected by population demands in some form.

Figure 2 Tanzania Land Cover Map : click to zoom

To understand the history of land use in Tanzania, there must be a dive into the political background that has influenced land use change and the defining government legislation and policies that drive it. Tanzania spent many years under colonialism rule, first under German colonialists from 1885 to 1918 then under the expansion of the British empire until Tanzania declared political independence in 1961 ¹². Great Britain established a ‘common law’ system within Tanzania, controlling the occupation of land and extraction of resources, while simultaneously influencing political, social, and economic structures ⁵. Under colonial governance, decisions on land use were left primarily in the hands of the British with little stake from those living within the colonies. The fight for independence from 1961 led to the dismantling and restructuring of colonial rules, led by Julius Nyerere and his TANU (Tanganyika African Nation Union) movement, to a unitary multiparty republic with one legislative house ⁷, ⁵. The influence of colonial rule has had long lasting effects on land use regulations and practices that are still prevalent to this day.

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Socio-Economic Drivers of Land Use

Land use practices in Tanzania are heavily influenced by the growing demand for resources due to the increasing population growth. Since the 1940’s Tanzania has exhibited a steady population growth, as of 2023 the World Bank has estimated the population to be 63,418,000, increasing by 2.8-3% per year (World Bank). Population is expected to continue growing, as shown in Figure 3.

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Tanzania Population Growth

Figure 3 Source: Macrotrends- click to zoom

Approximately 37% of the population lives within urban areas which increases as more individuals and communities migrate from rural areas for resource accessibility and better climatic conditions ⁷. Regions in Tanzania that have more suitable climate conditions, higher agriculture potential and resources have the highest population densities resulting in higher levels of immigration to areas such as Lake Victoria, Kigoma, and the largest city in Tanzania, Dar es Salaam as demonstrated in Figure. 4 below. ⁸.

Tanzania Urban Population Density Growth

Figure 4 Source: “Better Urban Growth in Tanzania: Preliminary Exploration of the Opportunities and Challenges”- click to zoom

Tanzania’s tropical climate and vast coastal area creates an abundance of natural resources, this has catalyzed the increased demand of resources resulting in increased land use demand for subsistence purposes and leading to increasing social conflict ¹. Land use in Tanzania is heavily influenced by the driving needs of a growing population, the demand on earth’s finite resources leads to increased agricultural production, deforestation, population migration, and infrastructure development. As individuals are either forcibly removed from their land to make way for agricultural or conservation developments or choose to seek more equitable access to resources in urban centers, traditional rural land use is seeing a shift to more urbanized land use practices.

Agriculture influences land use heavily in the region of Tanzania, but the degradation of the environment as a result is due impart to poor education of resource management. Education of individuals regarding land tenure rights, resource management, and sustainable harvesting has been limited to a post-colonial framework.

Land Tenure Rights

Colonialism still plays a key role in the structure of land tenure rights in Tanzania, establishing structures that are still in place to this day. The Land Ordinance passed during British Colonial rule in 1923 has developed the bare bones of the currently acting Land Act (1999) ¹⁶.

The Land Act has established three types of land tenure regimes that shape how all land is used, from private, to commercial, to government bodies. The three rights are the statutory or granted rights of occupancy, the customary and the other informal rights ¹⁰. The statutory system regulates that the rights to access, develop and occupy land in Tanzania is granted by the government with lease holds that can last for a maximum of 99 years. Thus, the government retains a significant right to the land as they are entitled to who receives these holds, and land is returned back to the state at the end of lease or if lease regulations are not obeyed by the occupant. The government recognizes three land categories within this Act; reserve land, general land, and village land ⁹. Reserve land is often used for purposes of protection and conservation of forests and biodiversity which is heavily regulated by the State, while village land has been instituted to provide more access for indigenous people living within and around reserves a more inclusionary role in decision making processes for land use ³. The percantage of land categories in Tanzania is demonstrated in Figure 5.

Figure 5 Tanzania Land Category Percentage : click to zoom

The state can expropriate private property for public use through instruments such as compensation, as per the Land Acquisition Act of 1967 “where any land is acquired by the President under Section 3, the Minister shall on behalf of the Government pay in respect thereof, out of moneys provided for the purpose of the Parliament; such compensation as may be argued upon or determined in accordance with the provision of this Act” ⁹. The state does not require consent from the occupants of the land but are required to compensate based on the lands determined market value.

Land tenure rights play a key role in how land use is changed and monitored in Tanzania, with the State holding a significant portion of power in the decision-making processes.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the predominant source of employment in Tanzania, providing jobs and livelihoods to approximately 80% of the population ⁸. Urban farming is a key source of livelihoods for many individuals living in urban areas, it is estimated two out of three households are engaged in some form of urban agriculture ¹⁰. Thus, agricultural has expanded from not only in rural areas but within city centers, making agriculture a key influence on land use in Tanzania. The growing population of Tanzania results in an increased demand for agricultural products, the need for food security and income generation will influence both commercial and rural farming practices. Despite the growth of urban agriculture, rural agriculture is still the primary producers of both food and cash crops, with many rural livelihoods depending solely on subsidence farming ⁹.

As shown in the video below discussing agricultural opportunities in Tanzania, there is growth in both rural and urban practices but also implementation of new agricultural practices and resources such as grapes due to the favourable climatic conditions!

Tanzania has approximately 44 million hectares of arable land suitable for agricultural purposes, however, this land use is competing with forest reserves, national parks and protected areas ¹⁷. While arable land for agriculture is estimated to be 620,227 km2, with protected and conserved areas accounting for 248,091km2 (28%), and urban areas 17,208km2 (2%), with only approximately 100,000km2 (33%) utilized for agriculture which is demonstrated in Figure 6. with a minimal portion of the map showing agricultural space ⁹.

Figure 6 Tanzania Land Use Map : click to zoom

Despite agriculture being a primary source of income and livelihoods within both rural and urban populations of Tanzania there is serious conflicting land use issues. Populations rely on subsistence farming but colonial framework of conservation and forest reserves with little to no input of local voices result in conflicts in how suitable agriculture arable land is used.

Conservation and Protected Areas

African communities have lived in harmony with natural landscapes, sustainably collecting natural resources in forests, and living side-by-side with wildlife for centuries. Colonial conservation practices instituted during British and German governance of Tanzania alienated indigenous people from the land, establishing laws that made social and economic practices like hunting, and harvesting fuel wood illegal ¹¹. Large areas of land were set aside as protected areas, today they are separated into six categories with varying levels of protection and access rights. The six categories are national parks, game reserves, and the NCA (Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority) of which are the most restricted, with game controlled areas, partial game reserves, and forest reserves being slightly less restrictive ¹¹. Tanzania is home to the largest protected area in Africa, the Nyerere National Park (Selous Game Reserve) which was a colonial period inheritance that has been expanded and continually developed ².

Figure 7 Tanzania National Parks : click to zoom

Click here for the Nyerere National Park website for more information!

When Tanzania gained their independence in 1961 they retained the colonial frameworks of conservation, focusing on exploitation and access on a governmental level to natural resources while excluding local and rural communities from decision making processes. This has resulted in substantial hostility from local populations against conservation, while recognizing the importance of conservation of species, the exclusion of local voices and opinions when establishing conservation areas has created animosity towards the environmental movement ². The removal of rural populations to make way for protected areas has been in practice throughout the colonial era of control and continued until after independence for a substantial period of time ¹⁰. Retaining colonial framework of protected areas could be driven through colonial education or for political parties to retain the rights to resources while bolstering their own political power and establishing development projects to boost the tourism sector to drive foreign exchange and economic growth ¹¹. The tourism industry places heavy reliance on wildlife resources, with the wildlife conservation policies released within the late 1990’s focusing heavily on boosting the tourism industry to promote development and foreign exchange by establishing restrictive policies on land use and resource extraction for local populations ¹¹.

The 1998 Wildlife Policy has promoted the sustainable use of forest resources, by stating there will be fair and equitable sharing of forest resources for all parties. It stresses providing education on the importance of conservation to the people of Tanzania while endorsing more community involvement in decision making processes ¹¹. While policy has been put forth to begin the process of involving Tanzanian communities in land use decisions, there will need to be more enforcement of policy and acknowledgement of communities going forward.

Forestry

Tanzania contains approximately 34.6 million hectares of forests and woodland habitats, the tropical forests are home to not only extensive biodiversity but acts as a valuable carbon sink, offers regulating ecosystem services, and subsistence for livelihoods of those living in the area ³. The abundance of forests is being threatened by increased deforestation that is roughly estimated to be between 130000 to 500000 hectares per year, however, this is a rough estimate due to the limited study in the area and erratic monitoring efforts ³.

Click here for more Tanzania deforestation statistics!

In the period between 1990-2005 an estimated 37.4% of forest cover (including woodlands) was destroyed, with 458,743 hectares cleared in 2002 for charcoal production alone ³. The true extent of deforestation is unknown before the first national forests industry of 1984 and the loosely defined terms of forests by the FAO leads to some disparity between estimations of forest cover lost ³.

The people of Tanzania have close, traditional ties to the forest, historically clans-maintained guardianship over forests and were revered as sanctuaries for “ancestral spirits and as sites for rituals and burials” ⁴. Forests have traditionally been relied on by the people not just as sanctuaries but as a source of livelihoods through food, medicine, fuel and building homes, canoes and traditional carvings ⁴.

While guardianship of forests traditionally falls to clans, colonialism introduced a new form of protection and established government-controlled forest reserves with stringent legislation for resource extraction and use. German colonization led the way to introduce government-controlled forest reserves, implementing foundations for regulating tree cutting to preserve forests but primarily so use of timber can be regulated for use by cash-strapped governments to produce revenue ¹⁴. Protection and guardianship of the forest remained within government control through British colonization, implementing tree plantations of fast-growing species for production purposes. The Forest Policy and Ordinance between 1953 to 1957 increased government-controlled forests with the goal to have 30% of forest coverage within government control for protection purposes ¹⁷. This expansion was designed to increase productivity of forest resources but displaced thousands of individuals living within these areas, removing access to forest resources and moving those who lived within the borders of designated forests to other villages or expanding urban centers ¹⁴. Despite Tanzania declaring their independence, colonialist influence lingers in much of government policy and regulations. Colonial forest management modeled current trends in government-controlled forests in the form of separating people from forests ¹⁷.

The Forest Policy of 1998, which did not fully take effect until 2010, instituted a radical change to bring communities back into decision making processes for the surrounding forests. This act granted the right for village councils to manage forests on village land, by obtaining a village land certificate the council is able to develop forest management plans and decide how to control the subsequent resources ¹⁷. An integral step to reducing government-led decision-making processes for forests to include communities who rely on forest commodities.

Figure 6 Tanzania Deforestation : click to zoom

While deforestation still presents itself as a problem in Tanzania, the steps leading towards decolonization of forestry practices is a fundamental first step to reducing impacts of government production forestry.

Tourism Development

Established national parks, game reserves and the NCA are both designed to protect biodiversity but also to promote the tourism sector. The largest national park in Tanzania is known for its Safari holidays, boasting tours from hot air balloon rides to bird watching trips. The promotion of conservation areas during Tanzanian independence had tourism growth as a key goal to promote foreign trade and development to help improve the economy as political parties began to seek to consolidate their own political power during the transition ¹¹.

There has been a transition away from colonial frameworks of conservation of excluding rural communities in decision-making by encouraging growth in the tourism and global trophy hunting industry ⁶. By the 1980’s small community led safaris were leading tours in the Serengeti, giving wilderness tours. Land use was further altered by ecotourism companies seeking village permission to lead tourist safaris on village land, establishing relationships where communities can benefit from the resources of the land ⁶.

Tourism land use practices in the colonial era under German and British rule involved removing rural populations to establish protected areas to ensure that resource extraction and use remained within government control while simultaneously protecting biodiversity. Proceeded by a limited transition during the time of Tanzania declaring independence to establish more protected areas in a bid of power to bring in tourism economic benefits. Before beginning the current land use goal of conservation to more sustainable methods by incorporating local populations in decision-making processes and allowing access to forest resources. Tourism in Tanzania is primarily based within National Parks and game reserves, working with villages to run safari trips locally and creating a source of livelihood while working to protect biodiversity.

Click here to view some National Parks tourism opportunities!

References

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19. Worral, L., Colenbrander, S., Palmer, I., Makene, F., Mushi, D., Kida, T., Martine, M. and Godfrey, N. (2017). Better urban growth in tanzania: A preliminary exploration of the opportunities and challenges. Coalition for Urban Transitions.