Neil D. Burgess, Paul Harrison, Peter Sumbi, James Laizer, Adam ...

MANAGEMENT ISSUES: TANZANIA’S COASTAL FORESTS 2011
4 Management Issues
4.1 Overview
Past management (since colonial time) of Forest Reserves was not always biodiversity friendly (e.g.
planting the core of perhaps the richest patch of Coastal Forest, Rondo Plateau FR, with exotic pine in
1952). In 1977 Forest Reserves with no national catchment or timber values (i.e. most of the Coastal
Forest patches) were passed to districts for their management as part of Tanzania’s decentralisation
process, with fewer staff, less funds and little conservation interest or capacity. Districts manage both
the timber-rich woodlands around the biodiversity rich forests and the forest patches. This has now
changed especially in the 1990s after the Rio summit.
4.2 Policy and Legislative Context for the Management of Biodiversity
Environmental management in Tanzania is complex, multi-sectoral and cross sectoral; it requires a
holistic approach and multi-level operation. There is a strong policy framework for environmental
management and for biodiversity conservation in Tanzania. Environmental concerns are embedded in
the constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania, where article 27 (1) states that, “Every person has
the duty to protect the natural resources of the United Republic of Tanzania, the property of the state
authority, all property collectively owned by the people, and also to respect another person’ property”.
The 2025 country’s vision overall goal specifically includes; ‘sustainable development endeavours, on
intergeneration equity basis, such that the present generation derives benefits from the rational use of
natural resources of the country without compromising the needs of future generations’.
The environmental related laws of mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar differ and are separated here:
4.2.1 Zanzibar
On Zanzibar there are two relevant laws that relate to the implementation of this project: The
Environmental Management for Sustainable Development Act, 1996, Part 1 to the Zanzibar Government
Gazette Vol CVI No 5743 of 31 st May 1997, and the Forest Resources Management and Conservation Act
No 10 of 1996, Part 1 to Zanzibar Government Gazette Vol. No. 5769 of 6 th December 1997. These laws
provide the basis for developing a network of protected areas, and in recent years there have been
important additions to the protected area network of Zanzibar, including the Jozani National Park (2004)
on Unguja.
The mandate of the Department of Forestry and Non Renewable Natural Resources (Formally
Department of Commercial crops, fruits and forests,) is stated in the National Forest Policy of 1995 and
partly in the Agricultural sector policy. The department is instructed to ‘Protect, conserve and develop
forest resources as well as to promote sustainable development of the agricultural sector for the social,
economic and environmental benefit of present and future generations of the people of Zanzibar’.
The Department of the Environment is governed by the Environmental Policy of 1992, which is currently
under review. The aim of the policy is stated as to ensure that the economic development is
accompanied by proper environmental management, so that Zanzibar’s natural heritage is passed on
undiminished to future generations.