serikali ya mapinduzi zanzibar care tanzania and department

♦ During 1957, an Indian merchant called V.R.Joshi installed a sawmill in
compartment 31 in the forest and started sawing timber, which was transported to
outside Zanzibar, possibly to India and other parts of Asia.
♦ In 1959 Ngezi forest attained a status of being a forest reserve.
♦ In 1963 the first batch and planting of Maesopsis eminii was introduced to the
forest from Usambara. This was aimed at filling gaps within the opened areas
where timber extraction had been taking place.
♦ Parallel to planting of Maesopsis eminii, enrichment planting of indigenous tree
species that were commercially harvested was done. This included such species as
Milicia excelsa, Antiaris toxicaria and exotic species such as Calophyllum
innophyllum, Terminalia ivorensis, Cordia alliodora, Khaya nyasica and
Tabebuia pentaphylla.
♦ In January 1964 the colonial government was overthrown and so following that
revolution, the Zanzibar government confiscated the sawmill in the forest. This
had made the merchant to leave the country and the government started running
the mill and the logging operations.
♦ In 1968 Vumawimbi was declared a forest reserve and became part of Ngezi
management. However people continued to live in Vumawimbi forest as laws
were not enforced to evacauate people from the reserve.
♦ During 1974 Kizimbani saw mill in Wete town was built and sawing of logs in the
forest was stopped following the Chinese sawmill installation. The forest had to
feed the sawmill in Wete with the raw materials.
♦ In late 1970s i.e. (1977/79) replanting of Maesopsis eminii in areas in which the
government cleared for rubber plantation establishment, continued for the second
time, after failure of the decision of planting of rubber in the forest where it was
directed outside the forest reserve.
♦ During 1980’s realization of colonization of invasive Maesopsis eminii to other
species started to be noticed and different eradication means were launched. These
included uprooting, use of chemicals, which was later discouraged and hence ring
debarking along with uprooting had been done since then up to date. Due to its
fast growth rate and tendency of colonizing the area, this species has become
noxious species. Nevetheless, the Maeopsis eminii is currently playing a
significant ecological role in the area as it has established an microenvironment
which harbours a variaety of fauna species. Its eradication has to be undertaken
with great care.
♦ Harvesting had to take place to feed the sawmill until, up to 1980’s when the
importance of conservation globally started to be known, and by 1988 commercial
harvesting was officially stopped following FinniDA involvement in conservation
activities. Enrichment planting continued parallel with other conservation
activities, which included species such as Afzelia quanzensis, Milicia excelsa,
Calophyllum innophyllum, terminalia cattapa and Erythrophloeum suaveolens.
FinniDA continued funding conservation activities in Ngezi forest up to 1997
when they pulled out.
♦ During 1996 the first management plan after revolution was prepared to cover the
five years period; 1996-2001.The preparation of this management plan involved
the communities and local officers. It divided the forest into natural zone, which
allowed minimal human interferences including scientific, tourism and recreation.
The multiple use zones, allowed very low impact use of fuel wood, building poles,
medicinal plants, collection of basketry materials, ropes, fruits and honey.
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