Illegal Logging Cuts A Swath Across Tanzania

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives

http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

1/13/00

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

Tanzania is undergoing rapid deforestation that is leading to "land

degradation, destruction of biological diversity, disturbance of the

ecosystem and threatening water sources." Following are two reports

which emphasize different aspects of the problem--illegal logging and

charcoal production.

g.b.

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ITEM #1

Title: Illegal Logging Cuts A Swath Across Tanzania

Source: Panafrican News Agency

Date: January 10, 2000

Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - An ecological disaster is looming in

most parts of Tanzania, where rampant logging of pristine forests goes

unabated at times with the aid of forestry staff.

It is estimated that between 130,000 and 500,000 hectares of forest

are lost annually, the permanent secretary in the Natural Resources

and Tourism, Philemon Luhanjo, said.

On the slopes of mount Kilimanjaro - Africa's highest mountain -

17,600 hectares of forest have been destroyed by fire over the past

five years.

Encroachment and overgrazing are also responsible for the depletion of

Tanzania's forests.

A recent publication, Cut and Run, Illegal Logging and Timber Trade In

The Tropics by the International Development Research Centre in

Canada, fingers Tanzania's illegal timber trade.

A detailed account of the practice in Ghana shows cases of corruption

and fraud malpractice.

The publication says wildlife populations in Tanzania, including

internationally red-listed species, are being decimated by communities

of logging employees who have to subsist on bush meat.

Further revelations are that 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.

Luhanjo admitted the goings-on is sometimes aided by corrupt forestry

staff, whom he threatened to punish.

The forestry staff are also suspected of collusion in the decimation

of endangered animal species.

Also implicated are timber product dealers, merchants, private

individuals, saw-millers and logging companies.

The suspects threaten Tanzania's 33.5 million hectares of forest and

woodland.

Only 13 million hectares of the country's entire forest acreage are

gazetted forest reserves, of which 600,000 hectares belong to Local

Government Forest Reserves.

Luhanjo said 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, fuelwood and

charcoal. Illegal trading in timber products is especially rife in

cross border areas.

An example is the trading in Brachylaena Hutchinsii (Muhuhu) on the

Tanzanian-Kenyan border, in which most of the timber is both illegally

harvested and exported, Luhanjo said.

As a means of halting the devastation, authorities have begun

enlisting the help of communities living near forests. They are being

advocated to help in forest conservation measures.

Another measure embarked on is the mounting of police patrols on major

roads in a bid to arrest suspects and the impounding of illegal forest

produce.

Luhanjo warned that disciplinary action would be taken against staff

found to be involved in illegal timber harvesting.

He noted 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.

Other factors are incompetent and corrupt elements among some staff

who check and authenticate the forest products acquired or transported

and weak forestry administration in some forest areas.

The lack of affordable alternative sources of energy also causes

communities in rural areas to resort to forests as an immediate

source.

"They also revert to exploiting forests as an immediate source of

income," Luhanjo said.

A recent study by the Research on Poverty Alleviation has indicated

that of the 2.5 million hectares of forest in Coast and Dar es Salaam

regions, only 369,523 hectares have been declared as reserved.

The remaining 85.3 percent is left to the mercy of the public.

The institute has called for proper forest management and extraction

of forest products to save forests from destruction.

ITEM #2

Title: Deforestation in Tanzania alarming

Source: 2000 TOMRIC Agency via Africa News Service

Date: January 7, 2000

Dar Es Salaam - Every 24 hour, over 2,000 bags of charcoal enter the

city of Dares-Salaam. The bags are deposited in the outskirts of the

city, with most of the charcoal coming from the coast region.

Tree cutting is a non-stop process in the region, and worse still very

little if any efforts are devoted to planting trees- or to arrest the

situation.

The largest use of wood in Tanzania is fuel. It accounts for 97

percent of all wood consumption in the country.

"It is a deforestation process at an alarming rate," say Mr. Richard

Maja, one of the executive officers of Environmental Conservation and

Human Empowerment Unit. (ECHEU), a Dar Es Salaam- based non

governmental organization.

Afforestation is so much needed on the outskirts of the city and coast

region, as the charcoal business turns once dense forest areas into

open spaces, he declared in an interview with the TOMRIC Agency.

Over-utilization of existing natural resources, tree cutting for

charcoal making shifting agriculture and wood harvesting for building

purposes are depleting the forest areas, he says.

The Egos is now looking for funds to launch tree planting campaigns,

he says. Lamenting that indiscriminate cutting down of trees was

continuing despite the danger being known.

A study conducted in the two regions shows that with about 3 million

population, Dar Es Salaam consumes 7.5m tonnes of charcoal yearly,

which, experts say, threatens existing forests.

The study was conducted early last year, to ascertain the situation

before efforts to launch tree planting campaigns are initiated, he

said.

The program envisaged is not limited to tree planting but will include

advocacy and conducting training among grassroots communities about

ways to conserve the forest environment, he said.

Mr. Maja is optimistic, says that the government and international

organisations will show their willingness to provide support.

In November 1998 the government launched the National Tree Planting

Compaign (NTPC) which Mr. Maja says the new program is in line with

the previous initiative.

As in the case of poverty alleviation environmental conservation is

under the office of the Vice President, and coordination of the

campaign in Dar Es Salaam and the Coast regions will also follow the

same channels, he said.

NTPC was launched following area studies, calling for collective

measures, as ten to twenty years ahead, over 50 per cent of the

country's vegetable land would have turned into a dust blown,

inhospitable semi desert, he remarked.

There are still a few forests, though at risk, in both Dar Es Salaam

and coast regions. A recent study by the National Environmental

Management Council (NEMC) indicates that despite well publicised

efforts to control deforestation, coastal forests face extinction.

A large variety of creatures, exclusive birds among them, used to be

seen in these forests but had mostly disappeared.

Deforestation is not a problem faced by Dar and coast regions alone,

as various studies show that Central and northern regions are just as

intensively affected.

Almost all of the regions in the central part of Tanzania and the

southern parts of Lake Victoria basin, the Maasai steppe count among

the more depleted areas, NEMC reports indicate.

Depletion of coastal and mangrove forests as a result of the demand

for wood and charcoal is evident in the country.

Mangrove forests are part of wider forest depletion estimated by the

Tanzanian Wildlife Society at 300,000 and 400,000 hectares annually.

There is a dispute on these figures, as the country office of the UN

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates deforestation at

140,000 hectares annually, at most.

Land degradation, destruction of biological diversity, disturbance of

the ecosystem and threatening water sources are becoming widespread as

a result of deforestation.

Contributing factors to this trend include poverty, low public

awareness and failure to bring local residences, to participate in

ecosystem conservation efforts, Mr. Maja noted.

Professor Marjorie Mbilinyi of the Tanzania Gender Networking Program

(TGNP), emphasized the gender aspect in seeking an efficient method in

dealing with environmental issues. Emphasis should be on making the

program transformative, the don underlines.

In their observation researchers, Dr. Gregory Njau and Mr. Eric

Mugurus on towards sustainable environment in Tanzania, recommend

proper ownership of the forests. According to the current system

forests as the case with land is the property of the government. They

think that personal ownership of forests, would be effective in

curbing deforestation increase an interest in conservation and

methodical tree harvesting.

They say in their report that so long as prices of forest product are

low, not including the environmental cost incurred by the wider

community, deforestation will not be curbed, the researchers

emphasizes.

Dr, Alexis Naho of the Economic Research Bureau (ERB) at the

University of Dar Es Salaam, asserts that bad public policies

contribute a lot to environmental problems.

He wants the price of woods and its related products, be raised to

include environmental coasts and he says, "It is very likely demand

responses to price increases will help to sort out the problem."

He says the government needs to design the policy mechanism which

affects the price system in the trading of forest products. Such a

mechanism provides a better guarantee against deforestation than

sporadic campaigns and tree planting, he asserts.

Evidence in ERB studies on the problem points to the need for measures

for an improvement in living standards as party of an overall solution

to the serious deforestation problem, he added.

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