The Village Land Use Management Committee (VLUMC) and Village Natural Resource Committee (VNRC) are essential tools for supporting the natural resource governance within village lands. However, a power struggle has emerged between these committees due to a lack of clear understanding regarding their respective responsibilities, mandates and areas of potential collaboration. In addition, while these committees have been promoted for natural resource governance, few studies have provided persuasive empirical evidence of their conflicting roles that help organize collective action to manage the natural resources. Given the importance of these committees for sustainable village land resources governance, this review paper has employed a narrative review approach embedded in a state-of-the-art approach to provide a comprehensive overview of the committees’ responsibilities and mandates, and suggests possible areas for cooperation. Key perspectives are that VLUMC is the overall manager of all land uses and is responsible for addressing all land use issues. VNRC appears to be the manager of village land forests and water resources. However, there is considerable overlap on the roles of VNRC and VLUMC, including dealing with land use boundaries demarcations (water sources and forest boundaries), land use conflicts (forest boundaries and encroachment), preparation and review of land use plan and associated by-laws and rules, collection of fines and penalties related to encroachment and boundary violations. This underscores the necessity for providing clarity on the roles and responsibilities of the committees, developing integrated resource management plans, building capacity via training on governance, supporting policy and by-laws explicitly outline the roles and strengthening coordination. This paper contributes to the theoretical review of governance of natural resources in Tanzania and other countries where plural committees concerned with natural resources exist.
Amani J. Uisso (Mon,) studied this question.