Malley, Grace2020-03-192020-03-192015Malley, G(2015) Contribution of alternative income generating activities in reducing pressure on forests in REDD+ context: The case of Nou catchment forest reserve in Babati district, Tanzania. Master dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salam.http://41.86.178.5:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/7902Available in print form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library, Class mark (THS EAF SD414.T34M341)This study was undertaken in two selected villages called Madunga and Qameyu in Babati District. Following growing concerns on the mitigation of the impacts of climate change, there has been introduction of various Income Generating Activities (IGAs) in different forest-communities in the country. To examine their efficiency, the contribution of introduced IGAs to communities’ livelihoods in Nou Catchment Forest Reserve (NCFR) was assessed. The overall objective of this study was to investigate the contribution of established alternative IGAs in improving livelihoods and thus reducing pressure on NCFR, in the efforts to create conducive atmosphere for Reducing Emission on Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) to achieve its objectives of reducing emissions and improving livelihoods to the communities. Methods used include focus group discussion (FGD) involving 15 people in each village, key informants interviews (10 individuals) and household interviews of 5% (60 households) and field observation. Qualitative data was summarized and analyzed through content analysis approach. Data was presented in the form of statistical tables,graphs,charts, and maps, while quantitative data analysis involved Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS) for descriptive statistics such as frequencies and means. Microsoft Excel was used for graphical presentations of figures.The findings show that far less income is realized by the local communities as compared to the expected income (only 10% of the expected incomes), and thus the IGAs have not contributed much to the communities livelihoods. Of the existing IGAs, ecotourism, Village Community Banks (VICOBA) and energy saving stoves seemed to be more pronounced in both villages. Three major factors hindered the adoption and performance of the IGAs were unreliable and untimely funding, low motivation among the community members to try new activities (clinging to traditional practices of agriculture and livestock keeping) and low level of education, skills and awareness on the IGAs to the entire community. In order to improve the performance and contribution of IGAs in the study area, the study recommends establishment of strategies to support Nou adjacent villagers in marketing their products produced from alternative IGAs and thus being invulnerable to periodic supports from facilitators, adopt strategies to ensure the knowledge and skills on the IGAs (trainings, seminars) reach the entire community and benefits all, and introducing some IGAs that are more traditional and align with the agro-pastoralist society of the study villages such as piggery.enForest conservationAgricultureLivestockNou catchment forest reserveBabati districtTanzaniaThesis