**Abstract**

This Chapter questions the negligence of attachment scholarship in the context of environmental stewardship with a specific focus in peri-urban areas. This Chapter has illuminated the imperatives of considering place attachement as an important factor in realizing environment stewardship in peri-urban areas. Three selected hamlets (*Nzasa, Kisarawe and Pugu-Kibaoni*) constitute the study area. A standard closed-ended questionnaire for assessing the extent of attachment of the community was deployed. Literature review on the other hand was used to map baseline information of the study area including the historical significance of the Pugu and Kazimzumbwi forest reserves. Three attachment attributes were explored;, community knowlegiability levels of the area; level of thoughts and feelings of the area; and the extent of community connection to natural resources in the area. It was revealed that the extent of community connection to the forest reserves are relatively strong. The study revealed considerable contrast on forest knowledgiability levels among men and women in the Pugu and Kazimzumbwi forest reserves. Males are generally revealed to be more knowledgiable of the Pugu and Kazimzumbwi forest reserves as compared to their female counterparts. The study revealed that there was substantial relationship between residence status and the level of thoughts and feelings on the forest reserves. The study has shown that natives have more thoughts and feelings of the present and the future of the forest reserves as compared to those who migrated from other parts of the country. The findings suggest that community attachment is of considerable importance in influencing environmental behavior either positively or negatively. Whilist the empirical evidence are drawn from the peri-urban areas of Pugu and Kazimzumbwi forest reserves of Dar es Salaam city, the message thereoff is representing a broad reality in the peri-urban areas of the Global South. The inclusion of community attachment perspective in negotiating environmental stewardship is advocated for as it might contribute in addressing the growing degradation of natural resources in peri-urban areas which has been increasingly declining.

**Keywords:** natural resource degradation, global south cities, extent of community connection, knowledgiability levels, thoughts and feelings

## **1. Introduction**

There has been encreasing encroachment of the Pugu and Kazimzumbwi forest reserves in recent years. The encroachment has been alarming to the point of threatening the depletion of the forest reserves in the near future. At the same time, studies on land cover changes at the said forests have shown substantial decrease of land cover over the years [1]. This has led to the substantial decline of forest ecosystem goods and services including decrease of water volume on rivers such as nyeburu, decrease of water level on dams (Minaki), decrease of forest products such as honey, wild fruits; rainfall and temperature variability and decrease in crop yields (*Ibid*). Notably, increasing number of studies have recommended interventions geared at altering livelihood strategies of the forest adjacent community as part of the solution to the problem of forest enchroachment and its associated ill-effects. While the issue of livelihood is crucial in addressing the problem in question there are other underlying behavior related concerns to be taken on board for realizing a more holistic solution. Place attachment is one of the behavior related concept linked to community attitudes and behavior which affects positively or negatively community actions towards their surrounding environment. Notably, place attachment concept has been increasingly applicable both theoretically and empirically in rural settings as opposed to urban and peri-urban contexts [2]. While the amount of time one has stayed in a given locale partly explains the limited attachment research in peri-urban areas, this is an area worth schorlarly attention. The need for urgent attachment scholarship in peri-urban areas owes to the increasing degradation of natural resources especially in the Global South. Peri-urban being inhabited by a mixture of migrant populations and pressured by urban externalities poses unique attachment characteristic features in the context of environmental stewardship unlike the urban counterparts. This chapter therefore questions the negligence of attachment scholarship in the context of environmental stewardship in periurban areas. The chapter illuminates the imperatives of attachment scholarship in peri-urban areas by examining the commmunity attachment to the Pugu and Kazimzumbwi forest reserves and so establish weather the increasing encroachment is partly attributed to the extent of attachment.
