Willingness and drivers of community participation in mangrove conservation in the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania

Promoting local community participation in recognition of their indigenous knowledge is important for effective resource conservation. The aims of this study were to evaluate local community willingness and drivers of participation in mangrove conservation activities in the Rufiji Delta. Data were collected through focus group discussions, key informant interviews, semi-structured household interviews and participant and non-participant observations, across three designated management blocks - Northern delta (ND), Central delta (CD) and Southern delta (SD). Qualitative data were analysed using content analysis while quantitative data were analysed for descriptive and inferential statistics. Overall, the majority of respondents (88 %) agreed that it was important for the community to participate in mangrove conservation activities and 50 % of them expressed immediate readiness to participate if called upon. Zone wise, 50 % of respondents in ND and CD, and 42 % in SD indicated a moderate level of community willingness to participate in conservation. Age of household head, education level, source of income and awareness of mangrove governing laws were the most significant drivers positively associated with community willingness to participate in conservation activities. These findings suggest that for long-term management of mangroves, local communities should be adequately recognized as partners rather than as foes.


Introduction
Mangrove forests are intertidal ecosystems made of trees that have evolved to survive in wet, salty and often unstable environments (Spalding and Leal, 2021). They are special, unique and vulnerable ecosystems found globally in tropical and sub-tropical coasts (Astuti et al., 2017). There are about 8,349,500 ha of mangroves globally (Romanach et al., 2018) with Southeast Asia harbouring almost a third of the global total (Spalding and Leal, 2021). The Western Indian Ocean Region consists of 745, 518 ha of mangroves which represents 25 % of Africa's mangroves or 5 % of all the mangroves in the world. Mangroves in Tanzania cover an area of 110,787 ha with 41 % (45, 583 ha) located in the Rufiji Delta (Erftemeijer et al., 2022).
There is a growing recognition of the role of mangroves in providing services that enhance livelihoods of millions of people, often the rural poor, by providing wood resources and support to fisheries. In addition, the role of mangroves in protecting coastlines and properties and ameliorating climate change-related impacts through their high capacity for carbon sequestration is increasingly appreciated (UNEP, 2014;Biswas and Biswas, 2019;Aye et al., 2019;Gallup et al,. 2020;Spalding and Leal, 2021). Despite their recognized roles, mangroves are among the most threatened global ecosystems (Gallup et al., 2020). Direct and indirect human pressures including conversion of mangrove areas to accommodate infrastructure, urbanization, aquaculture, agriculture and coastal tourism are some of the drivers for mangrove loss globally (Romanach et al., 2018;Goldberg et al., 2020;Spalding and Leal, 2021). To address this situation, a number of countries have placed mangrove protection firmly into policy guidelines or framework legislation (Gallup et al., 2020), which varies greatly across nations. Repeated calls to action, including reforms in policy and management strategies have been made (UNEP, 2014;Spalding and Leal, 2021) to support mangrove rehabilitation programmes in many countries throughout the world (Gallup et al., 2020).
Like in other major mangrove countries of the WIO region including Kenya, Mozambique and Madagascar (Erftemeijer et al., 2022), Tanzania has not escaped mangrove degradation and loss, which is reported from various parts of the country including the Rufiji Delta which is the largest contiguous mangrove forest in the country (Monga et al., 2018).
Due to the high dependence of local livelihoods on mangrove areas and resources in the Rufiji Delta, the area has become a victim of a tacit common pool for firewood, charcoal-making, building poles, boat making and conversion to other land uses (Mangora et al., 2016;Mwansasu, 2016;Mshale et al., 2017;Monga et al., 2018;Japhet et al., 2019). These pressures have led to substantial degradation and loss of mangrove cover, where Monga et al. (2018) reported that between 1991 and 2015, 9,089 ha of mangrove forests in the delta were lost, translating to a net loss of 12.4 % in the period of 24 years, largely from conversion to rice farms.
To respond to repeated calls for protection and restoration of mangroves at different times, a number of government bodies and international conservation Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) (Longopa, 2018), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (Richmond et al., 2002) and Wetlands International (WI) ( Japhet, 2018) have funded conservation initiatives with components of protection and restoration of mangroves and promoting community participation in the Rufiji Delta. Reportedly, most of such initiatives are concentrated in the north delta block which is characterized by greater mangrove losses due to conversion into rice farming than the south and central delta blocks (Monga et al., 2018). Local NGOs like Pakaya Culture and Environmental Group (PCEG) have also been conducting community sensitization and awareness raising in the delta to ensure sustainable conservation of mangroves. At the village level, Village Natural Resource Committees (VNRCs) and Beach Management Units (BMUs) manage mangroves in the delta (Mshale et al., 2017;Japhet, 2018;Nyangoko et al., 2021).
Local community participation in natural resource conservation is gaining interest and encouraged in various countries and by various practitioners as an effective approach to ensure sustainability (Astuti et al., 2017;Garekae et al., 2017;Thuy et al., 2019). This is due to the growing recognition that indigenous knowledge should be blended with contemporary conservation techniques to enhance the capacity to carry out long-term natural resource conservation plans (Ellison, 2012). However, it is evident in the literature that local communities in different areas have not actively participated in conservation programme planning and decision-making for various reasons (Kariuki, 2014;Gumede and Nzama, 2021).
Participation is promoted as a voluntary process (Biswal, 2006), local community participation in natural resource conservation is not guaranteed because communities argue that their willingness is compromised by the absence of incentives (Zahabu et al., 2010;Hassan, 2015). The Tanzanian Forestry Policy of 1998 and Forest Act of 2002 emphasize participatory management to achieve sustainable forest management through the Participatory Forest Management (PFM) framework (Zahabu et al., 2010). The PFM has two strategies; Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) and Joint Forest Management ( JFM).
In CBFM, a community becomes the forest owner and duty bearers of forest management, while JFM requires a community to sign an agreement with the government and other forest owners regarding forest management (MNRT, 2008). However, both CBFM and JFM strategies in Tanzania have not been effective and successful, not only in mangrove forests, but in some other terrestrial forest reserves where attempts have been made (Kajembe et al., 2006;Mpokigwa et al., 2011;Kilemo et al., 2014). This is because there is no clear or binding agreements on how forest benefits and revenues are to be shared between the government and local communities (MNRT, 2008). An impact evaluation report by Persha and Meshack (2016) stated that JFM in Tanzania has enabled higher levels of local level governance, particularly the functions of VNRCs, but lacked in improving livelihoods of local communities participating in JFM, which calls into question the long-term sustainability of the strategy. These examples highlight why an adequate understanding of drivers influencing community willingness to participate in conservation in the delta is important for designing and implementation of effective community-based mangrove conservation. In the present study, the willingness of local communities to participate in mangrove conservation in the Rufiji Delta was explored. The study specifically set out to answer the following questions: (1) What is the importance of community participation in conservation?; (2) How do the local community perceive their role in participation in conservation initiatives?; (3) What is the level of community willingness to participate in conservation?; and (4) What are the drivers of community willingness to participate in conservation?
The delta is home to the largest mangrove ecosystem in Tanzania, with about 48,030 ha of mangrove forests (Monga et al., 2018). For management purposes, the delta is divided into three blocks; namely, Northern delta (ND), Central delta (CD) and Southern delta (SD) (Mangora et al., 2016;URT, 2020). On the basis of proportional coverage of the forest and utilization and dependence of local communities on mangrove forest, ten (10) villages were selected for the study.  (Semesi, 1992) (Fig. 1). Major livelihood activities in the delta include rice farming, fishing and trade of mangrove products (Kangalawe and Masao, 2018).
Multi-ethnic groups live in the study villages, with the majority being "Ndengereko" and "Nyagatwa". Other minor tribes who are mainly immigrants that reside in and around the Rufiji Delta include Zigua, Kurya, Matumbi, Makonde, Mwera, Zaramo, Ngoni, Ngindo, Shirazi and Hehe.
The Rufiji Delta experiences an average temperature of 24 °C and 28 °C during cold and hot months throughout the year, respectively (Ndesanjo et al., 2012), with an annual rainfall of 750 mm to 1,250 mm (Mwansasu, 2016). The area experiences two rainy seasons; the short rains usually start in October and end in December, and the long rains are from February to May.

Research design and data collection
Before the actual data was collected, a preliminary survey was carried out to introduce the objectives of the study and seek the consent of communities to participate. The study applied a triangulation approach by using both qualitative and quantitative social science research approaches (Schoonenboom and Johnson, 2017) to gather primary data with increased credibility and validity at household and community level (Table   1). Qualitative research methods involved Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informants Interviews (KIIs), while quantitative method involved Household Semi-Structured Interviews (HSSI). With the help of village leaders, simple random sampling was applied to select respondents who were knowledgeable about mangrove issues and activities, and of different ages and gender. All interviews, recordings, and photographs were conducted after receiving the verbal consent of the respondents, which is generally considered acceptable. Relevant and retrievable literature was collected and reviewed to complement information collected from primary data sources.

Focus group discussions
In each village, one FGD was conducted at community level with six mixed sex participants (4 males, 2 females) of various age groups following a suggestion by Krueger and Casey (2018). Although coastal traditions make it difficult for women to speak in public, the FGD facilitator made sure that women participants were given adequate room to speak out. This helped to resolve the risk of bias in the results. The

Household semi-structured interviews
Prior to actual data collection, a household questionnaire was pre-tested to determine the reliability and applicability of the questions and revised accord-

Socio-demographic characteristics
The socio-demographic characteristics of the study respondents are summarized in

Participation in mangrove conservation
Responses to community perceptions on the importance of participating in mangrove conservation activities are summarized in Figure 2, indicating a significant difference (χ 2 = 9.846, p-value = 0.007) across study zones. Overall, more than 80 % of the respondents across the delta agreed that it is essential for communities to participate in mangrove conservation activities because they are natives with local knowledge of delta areas, and the primary implementers of the initiated conservation activities. For example, one FGD respondent from ND disclosed that: It is crucial that the community get involved in mangrove conservation efforts since doing so will help us learn about conservation, provide us with income to meet our needs, and serve as the first custodians of these resources for the benefit of future generations.

Willingness to participate in mangrove conservation
The three study zones of the Rufiji Delta had different perspectives on their willingness to participate in conservation activities. Figure 3 presents community perceptions on seven conservation activities and the corresponding willingness to participate in such activities. Overall, over 70 % of respondents agreed that it was important to participate in all conservation activities.
Mangrove restoration was in particular highly regarded as important by the majority (over 85 %) of respondents.

Level of willingness to participate in mangrove conservation
Respondents were required to rank the level of community willingness to participate in conservation activities. Figure 4 presents the level of community willingness to participate in conservation, indicating a significant difference (χ 2 = 29.204, p-value = 0.000) on the level of community willingness between the three zones, where 60 % of respondents in ND and 50 % in

Northern zone
Central zone Souhern zone Overall   Table 4.

Discussion
Various government and non-governmental organizations such as TFS, WI, IUCN (Ntibona et al., 2022), and environmental groups such as PCEG, VNRCs and BMUs (Mshale et al., 2017;Japhet, 2018) working in the conservation field have extensively acknowledged the significance of community participation in conservation and management practices. In this study, 52 % of the respondents agreed to participate in various mangrove conservation activities in the study area. This implies that the local community in the study area is ready to take part as partners in conservation programmes. The key benefit of local community participation in conservation is that it effectively reduces protection costs in terms of time and money input by eliminating the need for outside technical expertise and human resources (Xu et al., 2022). It was seen during interviews and discussion that the community is eager to be considered and included in conservation.
Respondents articulated that it is essential for them to participate because they are natives of the delta, mangroves. The high level of participation was credited to the potential for mangrove ecotourism as well as the support of government and private stakeholders to enable community-based management.
Local community participation is however contingent on incentives and benefits they will receive. Lack of benefits discourages local communities from participating in conservation initiatives (Paudyal et al., 2018;Valenzuela et al., 2020). Conservation activities should ensure socio-economic and socio-cultural wellbeing of local communities which are essential for maintaining conservation development (Gumede and Nzama, 2021). However, Kangalawe and Masao (2018) (Garekae et al., 2017). Lanka. People with higher education would likely have better awareness of environmental issues which may result in a higher willingness to participate (Grazhdani, 2014;Xue et al., 2022). Likewise, source of income was statistically significant with a positive regression coefficient indicating that people whose major sources of income are mangrove-based were more likely to participate in conservation to enable them to air their views and attitudes to conservationists regarding different laws and regulations that affect their access to utilize mangrove areas or related resources. This finding corroborates observations by Sesabo et al. (2006) who claimed that poor households who are dependent  (2015) have reported that an increase in public awareness on the existence of rules governing the use of coastal resources increases community willingness in forestry conservation interventions.
Other variables did not statistically influence community willingness to participate. Positive regression coefficient on gender implied more men are willing to participate than women. Sterian and Soutsas (2005) and Garekae et al. (2017) reported that men have more positive attitudes and are ready to participate in forestry conservation activities than women. According to coastal traditions, men are heads of household and play the major role in household decision making (Mshale et al., 2017;Nyangoko et al., 2021)