Nexus of village land use planning, village land forest reserve and REDD+ in Tanzania: a synthesis of concepts

Land use planning (LUP) and village land forest reserve (VLFR) have been integral to the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus (REDD+) initiative in Tanzania since its inception in 2008. However, the connection on how LUP and VLFR are taken into consideration in the REDD+ initiative has not been well-synthesised and documented. The link merely appears on piecemeal content in various literature. This study adopted a state-of-art method that employed a documentary review approach to fill the gap. The novelty of this article is that it provides a starting point for filling the gap that exists in literature concerning an extended understanding of the nexus of LUP and VLFR in the REDD+ initiative. The review confirms that LUP, VLFR and REDD+ are interlinked and that LUP and VLFR are crucial components to the pursuit of the REDD+ initiative. It was noted that LUP has evolved from a convectional to a participatory approach commonly known as participatory land use planning (PLUP) and can play an important role to control access to, ownership of and use of VLFR under the REDD+ initiative. PLUP has opportunities for limiting the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, preventing leakage, and ensuring permanence under the REDD+ initiative. The review recommends the idea of using PLUP as a strategy for safeguarding VLFR under REDD+ in the global debate on climate change issues. This is necessary for the REDD+ practitioners/advocates in Tanzania and beyond, towards sustainable forest management and conservation in the context of climate change.