Opportunity Costs of REDD+ to the Communities of Mufindi District, Iringa, Tanzania

Abstract

The study was done to assess the opportunity costs of REDD+ to the communities of Mufindi District which is located in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The specific objectives were, to identify and assess the economic value of alternative land uses, the aboveground carbon stock of Idewa Forest Reserve (IFR), and the profitability of each land use as compared to REDD+ incentives. Data were collected using questionnaire survey, key informant interview, and forest inventory and data were analyzed using the Excel programme. Results showed that the main land uses were agriculture and tree planting with economic values of $2958.52 and $3272.94 per ha per year, respectively. The total aboveground carbon was 39.23 t/ha (143.97/ha). The opportunity costs of REDD+ was varying depending on the price per ton of carbon. The opportunity costs of REDD+ will be profitable if the price per tCO 2 e will be at least $23. It can therefore be concluded that there is no general unit price per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO 2 e), as it depends on REDD+ opportunity cost when compared with alternative land uses within a particular place. Therefore we recommend opportunity costs of REDD+ to communities be used to guide decision making on unit prices of carbon.