FOREST CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT

Introduction

The Forest Resources Conservation and Management Programme, addresses the degradation of forestland through other land uses and man-made disasters, particularly forest fires, including how to conserve the capacity of the forests as water catchment areas for water supply and production of hydropower and unique biodiversity areas in different eco-zones. While focusing on the management and conservation, the programme addresses the importance of increasing forest production in fulfilling the demand for forest produce such as woodfuel, sawn timber, pulp and paper, NWFP and other forest produce.

Objectives and Indicators

The programme objectives and indicators are given below

Programme Priorities and Criteria for Implementation

Under this programme, all issues were of high priority and interlinked with each other. The two top priority sub-programmes for implementation in this programme are:

(a) Participatory Forest Management

(b) Forest Biodiversity Conservation and Management

The sub-programmes, however, have vertical complementarity in terms of availability of information on forest resources management planning and making appropriate decisions. Land use planning is key in supporting forest development and provides a basis for appropriate management of different forest types. The Logical Framework Matrix for all sub programmes is given in Annex 7.

Participatory Forest Management

Of the estimated 33 million hectares of forest land in Tanzania, 57% (around 19 million hectares) is largely unprotected and outside government forest reserves (URT, 2001). The National Forest Policy explicitly recognizes this and provides incentives for forest management at the lowest level of local government - the village - which number over 10,500 in Tanzania. In the mid 1990s a number of pilot activities were started in northern and western Tanzania, which for the first time provided a mechanism for the transfer of forest ownership and management responsibility from central to village government. Following these successful and well- documented pilots, other forest areas were brought under community management or community co-management. Notable examples include East Usambara forests of Tanga region, highland forests of Iringa as well as lower miombo woodlands, and more recently coastal forests in Tanga, Mtwara and Lindi regions. These pilots, implemented by a range of actors including local and international NGOs, local governments and supported by bilateral donors, collectively demonstrated the viability of engaging communities in forest management under a range of social and ecological conditions. These experiments across the country coincided with a review of the forest policy and legislation in the late 1990s, together with sweeping reforms in Tanzania’s economic and political spheres, and directly contributed to a favourable legal environment for advancing what is locally called Participatory Forest Management (PFM). Currently, mainland Tanzania has one of the most advanced community forestry jurisdictions in Africa as reflected in policy, law and practice.

The policy objectives of PFM are as follows:

1. Improved forest quality through sustainable management practices
2. Improved livelihoods through increased forest revenues and secure supply of subsistence forest products
3. Improved forest governance at Village and District Levels through effective and accountable natural resource management institutions

Two main approaches for implementing PFM are being promoted in Tanzania: Joint Forest Management and Community Based Forest Management.

1. Joint Forest Management (JFM) is a collaborative management approach, which divides forest management responsibility and returns between the forest owner (usually central or local government but also in rarer cases, the private sector) and forest adjacent communities. It takes place on land reserved for forest management such as National Forest Reserves (NFRs) (for catchment, mangrove or production purposes) and Local Government Forest Reserves (LGFRs) or Private Forest Reserves (PFRs). It is formalised through the signing of a Joint Management Agreement (JMA) between village representatives and government (either the District Council or Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism).
2. Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) takes place in forests on "village land" (land which has been surveyed and registered under the provisions of the Village Land Act (1999) and managed by the village council). Under CBFM, villagers take full ownership and management responsibility for an area of forest within their jurisdiction and it is "declared" by village and district government as a Village Land Forest Reserve. Following this legal transfer of rights and responsibilities to village government, villagers gain the right to harvest timber and forest products, collect and retain forest royalties, undertake patrols (including arresting and fining offenders) and are exempted from regulations regarding harvesting of "reserved tree" species, and are not obliged to share their royalties with either central or local government. The underlying policy goal for CBFM is to progressively bring large areas of unprotected woodlands and forests under village management and protection.

A recent assessment undertaken by the Forestry and Beekeeping Division established that PFM was operating or being established in over 1,800 villages and on over 3.6 million hectares of forest land equivalent to approximately 11% of the total forest cover and 18% of all villages on mainland Tanzania. A summary appears below in Table 1:

 

Community Based Forest Management  (CBFM)		Joint Forest Management   (JFM)
Forest area under CBFM (hectares)	Number of Villages with CBFM	Forest area under JFM (hectares)	No. of villages with JFM
2,060,608	1,102	1,612,246	719

 

Table 1: Estimates of adoption of PFM in Tanzania by 2006 (URT, 2006).

With funding from Government of Tanzania, supported by bilateral donors, the Forestry and Beekeeping Division (FBD) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism is developing a national programme for the implementation of participatory forest management. Working primarily through district and village governments, but increasingly supported by NGOs and the private sector, the programme is currently supporting 53 districts across mainland Tanzania (out of a total of 97)

Forest Biodiversity Conservation and Management

Conservation of biological diversity is important for local and global values. In general, inadequate baseline information on forest biodiversity and a low level of awareness on their values has impaired effective management. Priority will be to assess the different biodiversity sites, prepare management plans and facilitate the understanding of forest biodiversity including the use of indigenous technical knowledge in the conservation and valuation of the resource.

From the point of the view of the National Forest Programme the most important eco-zones or eco-regions requiring immediate consideration and protective measures are given below.

Coastal Forests and Thicket: The most important lowland forest patches are Local Authority Forest Reserves. There are no National Parks and the management of the Forest Reserves is generally insufficient. The areas of highest importance requiring conservation investments are the lowland forests around Tanga town, those of the Pugu Hills outside Dar es Salaam, of the Matumbi Hills south of the Rufiji River, and of the Rondo and Litipo areas of Southern Tanzania.

Montane Forests:This zone encompasses parts of four different ecoregions: the Eastern Arc Mountains, Albertine Rift Mountains, the Kenya-Tanzania Volcanic Mountains and the southern Tanzania-Malawi Rift Mountains. The biodiversity value of the Eastern Arc, in terms of the total number of endemic species, and the density of these endemics, is exceptional in world terms. These reserves have already been recognized and supported to conserve the biodiversity values. The Eastern Arc Conservation Strategy Framework, which is currently under development, is addressing these values. The montane forests are also valuable water catchment areas and have to be protected to maintain water quality and flow. For more information on the Eastern Arc forests view the Eastern Arc website

Since the majority of the forest remaining under the southern Tanzania to Malawi Mountains ecoregion (mainly the Southern Highlands) is found within Forest Reserves, and there are no National Parks in the area, the conservations investments into these forests are needed to ensure the conservation of the biodiversity of this forest type in the country.

Land Use Planning

Insecure land tenure resulting from poor land use planning has had negative effects on forest development especially in areas of high population pressure and undefined land use and security of tenure for forestlands. Ambiguous property rights have led to lack of motivation by the local people and private sector to conserve and manage trees on the general lands. Obvious effects have been degradation and erosion of biodiversity due to shifting cultivation, overgrazing, and wildfires. Priority will be to develop gender sensitive participatory land use planning in village and general lands to ascertain ownership and increase motivation for forestland development and biodiversity conservation. Areas to be covered are those with serious land use conflicts and the large areas of general lands in the central and western parts of the country.

Forest Resources Information and Management Planning

The overall forest management has for years been based on outdated and unreliable data and information due to inadequate collection, analysis, interpretation, dissemination, storage and updating of forest resource information as well as inadequate application of indigenous knowledge in forest resources management. This has resulted in failure to develop and update forest management plans in natural forests, watershed, industrial plantations and soil conservation areas and knowledge of forest ecosystems including biodiversity and water catchment resources. The priority will be to develop forest resources information through research and resource assessment, and development of management plans for respective forest land management including natural forests under central and local governments, industrial plantations, forest on general lands and on private and community areas. This will be a countrywide exercise involving new and ongoing programmes and projects.

Forest Resources Utilisation

Currently forest plantations are poorly managed and do not supply enough quality wood to support modern and efficient forest industries. In natural forests there has therefore been a heavy dependency on few species for raw materials supply for forest-based industry products. This has been a result of inadequate research and promotion of the lesser-used tree species. The potential for NWFPs and services including eco-tourism and woodfuel has not been fully assessed and utilised for both natural and plantations forests. Priority in this sub-programme is to prepare action plans for improved plantation management in consideration of the various management options such as private ownership, joint management, contracting out and leasing. Also the sub-programme would promote research and publicity of findings on the value and quality of the lesser used trees species as well as assessment and promotion of other products and services from the forests including promotion of eco-tourism and non-wood forest products.