imber Rush investigates the scale and drivers of the current investments in land and timber in Tanzania, testing the hypothesis that investments are first and foremost driven by domestic factors related to increased market demand for timber for industrial use, particularly construction, nationally and in the East African region.
Timber Rush further investigates the impact of investments in land for timber production on local people’s access to and benefits from land and other resources, testing the hypothesis that the main beneficiaries of investments in timber production are to be found among the domestic investors based in Tanzania’s urban areas while local people bear the costs. Also, the Timber Rush project provides for capacity building to strengthen the social science approach to the study of forest and natural resource management at Sokoine University of Agriculture.