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6.3.2.2 Good Governance and Institutional capacityIn order for REDD implementation and operationalization to work properly, a REDDgovernance system which is both transparent and accountable needs to be established.This is not an easy task especially given Tanzania‟s previous governance practiceswhich has been suffering from “entrenched corrupt practices and lack of goodgovernance in the forest sector and elsewhere” (United Republic of Tanzania 2010,p.14.). The strategy points out poor governance at all levels; at local, district, regionalas well as at national level. At local levels, key issues put forward are corruption, elitecapture and/or minority marginalization in terms of access to forest resources, lowaccountability, lack of transparency, low participation and weak law enforcement,while at higher levels main governance issues concern corruption, weak lawenforcement, and accountability, all of which has contributed to hamperingsustainable management and conservation of Tanzania‟s forests. The main reasons forthe weak governance has been attributed to gaps and inconsistencies within theexisting public forestry sectors institutional framework consisting of the MNRT-FBDand PMO-RALG and its lack of effectively linking the local governments to theregional administration and central government levels (Ibid., p.48.). Several studieshave, as mentioned previously, highlighted these issues. For example while theindependent consultation in 2006 revealed severe mismanagement of Norwegiangovernment support to MNRT, accounting for as much as $30 million lost (Jansen2009), the Traffic report from 2007 and World Bank study of 2009 described corruptpolitical and private networks within the timber and charcoal business accounting foras much as $100 million of lost governmental revenue annually (Milledge, Gelvas etal. 2007; World Bank 2009).Thus, the importance of an accountable and transparent institutional framework andgovernment system cannot be over emphasized, as it in many cases might make orbreak the potential success of REDD. It will in particularly affect the ability to deliveron the co-benefit of poverty reduction.Given the high risks of mismanagement and the history of the MNRT-FBD, so far inthe REDD process, the funding from NICFI has not been given directly to theMinistry but rather through IRA and the REDD Taskforce.The need to be extra cautious has been stated to have resulted in the process movingmore slow than if Tanzania had strong and accountable institutions able to handle the165