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Communities and conservation groups should own forests to earn from Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) programme.

Director of Forestry and Beekeeping Department Felician Kilahama said in Bagamoyo last weekend that currently multinationals and international conservationists are flocking the rural areas where they buy land cheaply from illiterate villagers, targeting the REDD payments and clean energy generation.

"Let's put in place a favourable policy that will protect communities from losing their land and forests to multinationals seeking to plant trees, cultivate jatropha or other biofuel crops while throwing away legitimate owners. Sometimes these companies cut down natural forests and plant other artificial species like jatropha while taking away our valuable land," Dr Kilahama told members of Parliamentary Land, Housing and Natural Resources and that of Finance and Economy.