Illegal Logging Rips Up Tanzanian Forests
8/28/99
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE
Illegal exploitation of forests in Tanzania, as elsewhere, has reached
a point of crisis. Mafia like logging cartels are stealing timbers,
and selling them to consumers--largely in the developed World. The
ecological fabric of the Planet, and resulting impoverished local
peoples, ultimately are paying the price. Make no mistake--unless
immoral, illegal, and ecologically unsustainable harvesting and
consumption of remaining old-growth forest ecosystems is halted, we
and our descendants will all pay the price.
g.b.
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Title: Illegal Logging Rips Up Tanzanian Forests
Source: Environment News Service, http://ens.lycos.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 26, 1999
Byline: Nicodemus Odhiambo
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, August 26, 1999 (ENS) - Illegal exploitation
of forests in Tanzania has reached a point of crisis. The illicit
activities, some by government officials, place Tanzania's 33.5
million hectares (129,310 square miles) of forest and woodland
increasingly at risk.
An estimated 500,000 hectares (19,300 square miles) of Tanzania's
pristine forests are lost annually through illegal timber trade.
This illegal trade has been pinpointed in a new publication, "Cut and
Run: Illegal Logging And Timber Trade In The Tropics." Published by
the Canadian government's International Development Research Centre
(IDRC) based in Ottawa, the book suggests that the Tanzanian
government lacks proper mechanisms of forest protection.
The government of Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye has now said it will
deal with illegal timber merchants severely.
Illegal exploitation of forests and corruption in forestry
administrations and customs services were also identified in Kenya,
Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon.
The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) has recently determined the
ramifications of this wanton deforestation on the country's pristine
forests, and is to hand over a report to the government.
The survey was conducted in Coast Region, where hundreds of logs worth
millions of shillings cut by merchants await collection by the
roadside at Nyamwage village, Rufiji district.
In Tanzania, the book says, wildlife populations, including
internationally red-listed species, are being decimated by communities
of logging employees who have to subsist on bushmeat. Hunting controls
are extremely lax. It is said that even the few remaining closed
forests in the country also suffer from illegal exploitation, and
fraudulent practices.
Information relating to WWF's survey is to be made public after the
Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has gone through the data.
Another study by the Research on Poverty Alleviation (REPOA) has
indicated that out of the 2.5 million hectares of forest in the Coast
and Dar es Salaam regions of Tanzania, only 14.7 percent have been
declared as reserved. The remaining 85.3 percent is left to the mercy
of the public. REPOA has called for proper forest management and
extraction of forest products to save forests from destruction.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Tourism, Philemon Luhanjo, has admitted that some forestry staff are
guilty of engaging in illegal timber trade. They are also suspected of
collusion in the decimation of endangered animal species.
He says other suspects in the illegal timber business are timber
product dealers, private individuals, sawmillers and logging
companies.
Luhanjo has warned that disciplinary action will be taken against
staff found to be involved in illegal timber harvesting. He notes that
the inability of forestry staff to issue licenses to all people who
apply in all areas and in time, may be one of the motivating factors
contributing to illegal timber trade.
There are incompetent and corrupt elements among some staff who
authenticate the forest products acquired and weak forestry
administration in some forest areas, Luhanjo admits.
Other causes of deforestation include indiscriminate fires, the
clearance of forest for agricultural purposes, encroachment and
overgrazing.
Luhanjo says illegal exploitation is occurring almost all over the
country both in Forest Reserves and in unreserved forest areas.
Suspects deal in unlicensed harvesting of timber, wood fuel and
charcoal.
Illegal trading in timber products acquired illegally is especially
rife in cross border areas. An example is the illegal trading in
Brachylaena Hutchinsii (Muhuhu) on the Tanzanian-Kenyan border, in
which most of the timber is both illegally harvested and exported.
As a means of halting the devastation, authorities have begun
enlisting the help of communities living near forests. The lack of
affordable alternative sources of energy causes these rural
communities to resort to forests as an immediate source. They are
being educated to help with forest conservation measures rather than
exploiting the forests for short-term gain.
Authorities are also mounting police patrols on major roads in a bid
to arrest suspects and impound illegal forest produce.
But Luhanjo has denied reports that officials in the Wildlife
Department may be abetting poaching, as alleged by the Hunters
Association of Tanzania.
c Environment News Service (ENS) 1999. All Rights Reserved