Abstract

This thesis examines the factors that have prevented the development of an environmental protection legal and institutional regime in Tanzania. It argues that the central focus of economic reforms has been to kick-start the economy by increasing growth through the maximization of resource exploitation. As a result, concerns for environmental sustainability have been relegated to the periphery of the development agenda. Secondly, as a result of domestic resource scarcity brought on by the economic crisis, environmental policymaking has been held hostage to the influence of foreign donors whose agendas have often been at cross-purpose to environmental protection. Thirdly, the nature of mandates of the environmental management institutions in Tanzania has bred institutional rivalry and competition for resources that, in turn, have led to a stalemate in the processes of institutional and legal reforms. Chapter two examines the economic crisis, which led to the adoption of economic liberalization policies in the mid-1980s and throughout the 1990s. This period also witnessed the intensification of environmental problems as a result of both the economic crisis as well as of the policy packages adopted to address it. The chapter shows a disconnection between efforts to address the economic crisis and those of environmental crisis that emerged during this period. Chapter three investigates the role played by international organizations and foreign donors in environmental policy reform processes. It shows the efforts of these players as being characterized by duplication, lacking coordination as well as running along parallel and fragmented lines. Chapter four illustrates the institutional rivalry and competition that has characterized the main institutions in Tanzania with primary, even though limited, environmental mandates. Chapter five ties together the major findings of the preceding chapters in order to draw conclusions.

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