Illegal Logging Rips Up Tanzanian Forests

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of forests.org

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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/

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.

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