rufiji environment management project - Coastal Forests of Kenya ...

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Rufiji Environment Management Project – REMP Project Goal: To promote the long-term conservation through ‘wise use’ of the lower Rufiji forests, woodlands and wetlands, such that biodiversity is conserved, critical ecological functions are maintained, renewable natural resources are used sustainably and the livelihoods of the area’s inhabitants are secured and enhanced. Objectives • To promote the integration of environmental conservation and sustainable development through environmental planning within the Rufiji Delta and Floodplain. • To promote the sustainable use of natural resources and enhance the livelihoods of local communities by implementing sustainable pilot development activities based on wise use principles. • To promote awareness of the values of forests, woodlands and wetlands and the importance of wise use at village, district, regional and central government levels, and to influence national policies on natural resource management. Project Area The project area is within Rufiji District in the ecosystems affected by the flooding of the river (floodplain and delta), downstream of the Selous Game Reserve and also including several upland forests of special importance. Project Implementation The project is run from the district Headquarters in Utete by the Rufiji District Administration through a district Environmental Management Team coordinated by the District Executive Director. The Project Manager is employed by the project and two Technical Advisers are employed by IUCN. Project partners, particularly NEMC, the Coast Region, RUBADA, The Royal Netherlands Embassy and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, collaborate formally through their participation in the Project Steering Committee and also informally. Project Outputs At the end of the first five –year phase (1998-2003) of the project the expected outputs are: An Environmental Management Plan: an integrated plan for the management of the ecosystems (forests, woodlands and wetlands) and natural resources of the project area that has been tested and revised so that it can be assured of success - especially through development hand-in-hand with the District council and the people of Rufiji. Village (or community) Natural Resource Management Plans: These will be produced in pilot villages to facilitate village planning for natural resource management. The project will support the implementation of these plans by researching the legislation, providing training and some support for zoning, mapping and gazettement of reserves. Established Wise Use Activities: These will consist of the successful sustainable development activities that are being tried and tested with pilot village and communities and are shown to be sustainable Key forests will be conserved: Forests in Rufiji District that have shown high levels of plant biodiversity, endemism or other valuable biodiversity characteristics will be conserved by gazettement, forest management for conservation, and /or awareness-raising with their traditional owners.
REMP Technical Report 40: Rangeland Resources in Rufjiji Exeutive Summary Rufiji District, the southernmost District of Coast Region, covers an area of 13,339 km 2 and is characterized by four main soil types: • Nutrient-poor coarse sands covered by Miombo woodland and coastal forest mosaics (4250 km 2 plus some 3400 km 2 inside the Selous Game Reserve) • Finer red sandy soils originally covered by coastal forest (2700 km 2 ), • The Rufiji River floodplain (1700 km 2 ) of loams and clays interspersed with sands, covered by tall grass and occasional trees. • Fine salty clays of the delta covered by mangrove and grasslands (1300 km 2 ). The average annual rainfall ranges from 1200 mm at the coast to 600 mm in the western floodplain and displays a bimodal pattern. The heaviest rainy season begins in mid March and ends in May. The lighter short rains fall from mid November to January. Only part of the floodplain soils are highly suitable for agriculture and, because of the need for fallows and the variable area reached by the annual floods, some 15,000 ha, of the estimated 45,000 ha that are suitable on the floodplain, are annually cultivated. Some 25,000 ha of the coastal forest on the red soils of the Northern Hills have already been cleared for cultivation. There is only a limited potential for sustainable forms of agriculture elsewhere in the district. Traditionally, the Rufiji inhabitants acquire their animal protein needs from fishing, hunting and poultry-keeping. Except in the delta, the inhabitants traditionally are not keepers of large livestock (goats, sheep, cattle), mostly because of the abundance of Tsetse flies. Therefore, the number of large livestock in the district has traditionally been small, a few hundred at the most and often owned by immigrant government staff. Since 2002 a fundamental change has occurred and immigrant pastoralists and agro-pastoralists have come into the District from other regions/ districts in search of pasture and water bringing considerable herds with them. Currently, it is estimated that the district has about 5,000 head of indigenous cattle (mainly cattle (4,000) from immigrating pastoralists), 300 dairy cattle, 7000 goats, 1,000 layer chickens and 400,000 local chickens. As expected the arrival of the immigrants has been welcomed in some places, while in other places it has been a source of tension and conflict. With the aim of assessing the utilization, by immigrant and local livestock keepers of the natural resources of the District, the Rufiji District Council through its District Agricultural and Livestock Department, with the support from the Rufiji Environment Management Project (REMP), contracted this study. The main output expected from the study was to provide baseline information on the physical potential of Rufiji’s grasslands, and contribute in developing a District Livestock Management Strategy. This strategy would strive towards ecological, social and economic sustainability. Terms of reference were prepared to guide the study, bearing in mind the goal of REMP namely, to promote the long-term conservation through wise use of the lower Rufiji River forests, woodlands and wetlands, such that biodiversity is conserved, critical ecological functions are maintained, renewable natural resources are used sustainably, and the livelihoods of the area’s inhabitants are secured and enhanced. Among other things the study did not consider the value and economics of wild animals versus pastoral production, but this could be a subject for further research. Similarly, because of the limitation to one discipline in the team, the study gives views mainly on pastoral production and pays only minor attention to other important users such as the indigenous cultivators, fishers and hunters. The study was carried out in February 2003, an exceptionally dry year when the Rufiji river did not flood and the floodplain remained dry and accessible. The consultant visited a total of 20 villages namely: Mohoro, Chumbi A, B, & C, Muyuyu, Ruaruke A & B, Kikale, Hanga, Mlanzi, Kivinja A and B, Bungu B, Mjawa, and Uponda. Others were Kilimani, Ngorongo east, Mgomba, Ikwiriri South and North and lastly Umwe north. The villages were selected by the DALDO’s office, as areas which seem to have physical potential for pastoralism and /or were already grazed by traditional pastoral herds. Brief interviews were conducted with focus groups in all the i
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