Assessing the perceived utility of wood resources in a protected area of Western Tanzania

To identify factors associated with interest in gaining access to protected wood resources in western Tanzania, I collected demographic, socio-economic and wood-use data for 240 households in three villages bordering Katavi National Park. Interest in accessing the protected wood resources was not associated with fuetwood needs, and did not fall along ethnic or demographic lines. Instead, logistic regression analysis identified material and land wealth as variables that increase households' interest in accessing wood resources in the Park, whereas intent to move in the near future and the interaction of material and land wealth were negative influences. These results suggest that resource-use interests are largely dependent upon expected individual gains, which vary according to household needs and ability to process resources for potential local sale or trade. This study considers the importance of distinguishing between people's conservation attitudes and their interest(s) in using specific resources, emphasizing the need to recognize intra-community variation in use interests. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.