Case Example: Shinyanga Region, Tanzania

This case study examines the restoration of 500,000 hectares of woodland in the Shinyanga region of Tanzania between 1986 and 2004. The restoration was achieved through the HASHI program, which revived the traditional Sukuma practice of 'ngitili' (enclosures) to combat desertification caused by large-scale cash-crop cultivation and inappropriate land use.

• Between 1986 and 2004, the community-based Shinyanga Soil Conservation Program (HASHI) facilitated the restoration of 500,000 hectares of woodland across 833 villages, benefiting a population of 2.8 million people.
• The restoration centered on 'ngitili', a traditional Sukuma practice of creating enclosures where vegetation is closed off from livestock from the start to the end of the rainy season, opening only during the peak of the dry season to prevent soil erosion and alleviate fodder shortages.
• Restored ngitili provided significant economic and social benefits, including an estimated economic value of US$14 per person per month and an annual value of US$89.6 million per year for sixteen major natural resource products in the Bukombe district.
• The restoration of ngitili reduced the daily workload for women by 2 to 6 hours for fuelwood collection, 1 to 2 hours for water, and 3 to 6 hours for fodder collection per harvest.
• Success was enabled by a combination of ecological suitability, market access, and policy reforms. Specifically, the Land Act and Village Land Act of 1999, the Forest Policy (1998), and the Forest Act (2002) clarified land tenure and allowed villagers to retain forest royalties and be exempt from certain local taxes.
• Institutional success was driven by the decentralization of forestry responsibility. The Local Government Act (1982) made forest officers answerable to locally elected councils, and by the mid-1990s, management responsibilities shifted from the central government to village governments.
• The program faced challenges including a 70 percent increase in both human and livestock populations, which increased demand for land and fuelwood. Additionally, socioeconomic disparities led to wealthy villagers purchasing land from poorer households, creating an imbalance in ngitili ownership.

APA

Buckingham, K., & Hanson, C. (2015). Case Example: Shinyanga Region, Tanzania. World Resources Institute. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_Tanzania.pdf

Chicago

Buckingham, Kathleen, and Craig Hanson. Case Example: Shinyanga Region, Tanzania. World Resources Institute, 2015. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_Tanzania.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Buckingham |first1=Kathleen |last2=Hanson |first2=Craig |title=Case Example: Shinyanga Region, Tanzania |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=2015 |url=https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_Tanzania.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{buckingham2015case, author = {Buckingham, Kathleen and Hanson, Craig}, title = {{Case Example: Shinyanga Region, Tanzania}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2015}, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/WRI_Restoration_Diagnostic_Case_Example_Tanzania.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }