Communities' awareness of afforestation and its contribution to the conservation of lizards in Dodoma, Tanzania

Afforestation is providing the remedy for deforestation, which is among the greatest challenges of biodiversity conservation in Tanzania. Efforts for afforestation are taking place in Dodoma, which are anticipated to have social and ecological positive effects. This study provides information on the perception of local communities towards afforestation and how afforestation can harbor other wildlife species like lizards. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from respondents who were chosen at random in the afforestation area. Pitfalls and direct observation under constrained time intervals were used to sample lizards in two categories of vegetation (afforested and non-afforested areas; n = 1040 samples). Awareness of afforestation was significantly affected by age group (P < 0.005) and nature of course taking. In this case, those who studied natural courses like biology, forest, and aquatic science were more aware of afforestation and they had a likelihood of being involved in afforestation programs (P < 0.05). Eight species of lizards were identified in the study area where seven species were found in afforested areas while three were found in non-afforested areas, where Agama lionotus was the dominant species. The diversity of lizards was higher in afforested areas (Shannon Weiner index H = 1.37) than in non-afforested areas (Shannon Weiner index H = 0.99). More afforestation program awareness and conservation education are required to ensure the sustainability of afforestation efforts in Dodoma. Afforestation showed a significant contribution to the conservation of lizards. Lizards can be used as good indicator species to understand and monitor the success of afforestation.