Land Resource Conflicts in Tanzania: Is there a way out?

Context and background With the implementation of Economic liberalization policies in the 1980s and recognition of land markets in the 1990s there has been an increase in competition and Land Resource Conflicts (LRCs) over land in many parts of Tanzania. As a result, the implementation of reforms has been accompanied with statutory multiplicity in land allocation leading to severe LRCs especially in rural areas. Goal and objectives This article examines the nature of LRCs in Tanzania and potential solutions based on juxtaposition of LRCs related theories onto practices in land management in Tanzania. Methodology Workshops were conducted in three regions of mainland Tanzania reaching a total of 210 professionals in forest, environment, Academia and land sectors. Participants' contributions in these workshops were clustered based on concepts derived from resource LRC theories and narratives were interpreted to arrive at the results and conclusion of the study. Results It was noted that since many LRCs emanate from farmers or pastoralists intersection with either farmland or conservation areas i.e., forests, game parks or/and natural ecosystems, these spatial units need to be delineated with proper community participation. Haphazard attempt to exclude one resource user from the other have often turned futile due to corruption and violation detection inability by government authorities. Local communities seem to argue for reducing these conservation areas in favor of expanded agriculture and/or grazing land. It seems however, there is no recipe for LRCs resolution in Tanzania, the cost and benefit of the different approaches need to be evaluated before one can adopt any. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]