Historically, the Department of Forest and Environmental Economics has been part of an evolutionary process that has made the current College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism to exist. The Department of Forest and Environmental Economics was initially conceived as a section of the then Division of Forestry, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Science of the University of Dar es Salaam from 1973 to 1984. In 1984, Sokoine University of Agriculture was formed with a Faculty of Forestry as one of the main Faculties of the University. The Department of Forest Economics was one of the five founding Departments of the Faculty of Forestry. With changing priorities in forestry and nature conservation nationally and globally, the name of the Faculty became the Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation (FoFNC) in 1998 but the name of the Department remained the same until July, 2016 when the FoFNC became College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism. Under the college the Department of Forest and Environmental Economics obtained its new name.