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

REFERENCES: TANZANIA’S COASTAL FORESTS 2011
6 Conclusions
In this report we bring together all available information on the Coastal Forests of Tanzania. This
includes data on biodiversity, protected areas location, protected areas management effectiveness,
protected areas financing, socio-economic conditions in the broader landscape, carbon values in the
broader landscape and the administrative and legal settings within which these forests are sitting.
The main conclusions we derive from this work are as follows:
6.1 Biodiversity Issues
The coastal forests are of global importance for the conservation of rare, endemic and threatened
species of plants and animals. New field work shows that there are still areas of forest that are not
well known, but which have high biological importance. In this project we can see that all
intervention areas have significant biological importance and are in need of conservation. There is
also a pressure on some of the species, particularly the larger mammals as they are intensively
hunted for bushmeat for local consumption and there is also evidence of poaching of elephants for
Ivory, including observations made during the field work in September 2011.
The coastal forest habitat has shrunk dramatically over the past centuries and this shrinkage
continues. Rates of forest loss seem to have slowed in recent years, but forest degradation in the
form of charcoal burning of the forest biomass, and the logging of valuable timber and building
poles, continues. All of these pose threats to dissappearance of some of biodiversity values. Charcoal
burning is focused around Dar es Salam and logging is focused in the southern areas of the forests.
6.2 Spatial Planning Issues
The protected area network in the coastal forests is mainly in the form of Forest Reserves that are
owned by the central government, but managed by the local authority. Official records for these
reserves are poorly mnaged and scattered, and in many cases there is confusion on whether certain
reserves exist, or do not exist. This situation makes the production of a reliable list and set of data
on the current protected area network problematic. Despite this, there are clearly gaps in the
protection of key forest areas, particularly in Kilwa District, but actually in all areas of the coast on
the mainland and on Zanzibar. Closing these protected area gaps is a major focus on this GEF
project, using a combination of approaches ranging from Village Land Forest Reserves, Local Area
Forest Reserves, and upgrading selected reserves to the status of Nature Reserve. Significant areas
of forested land are being put under conservation management and sustainable use in this way.
6.3 Management Issues
The effectiveness of management of the government forest reserve network is weak in the coastal
areas of mainland and somewhat better on Zanzibar. The best managed reserves according to the
data collected are the Village Land Forest Reserves and the Sadaani National Park. All other reserve
categories are very weakly managed. Most are used as a source of revenue for the District Councils
and there are very significant levels of illegal logging, charcoal burning and pole harvesting in most
reserves.
6.4 Financial Sustainability
The financial sustainability of the reserves in this area is also very weak. Most of the districts have
very little to zero funding available for operational management, and apart from salaries there is not
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