serikali ya mapinduzi zanzibar care tanzania and department

produce, especially firewood and building materials (Table 4.21). However, quite a
good number of respondents (22%) said that the forest should continue to be protected
for present and future generations. It appeared that, some people were illegally
allowed to enter the forest through bribing the guards, which can be detrimental to the
forest if care will not be taken. All these and others were offered as comments for
future to serve the forest (Table 4.21).
Table 4.21: The declared suggestions/comments offered by the respondents regarding
their views for future management of Ngezi forest
Comment Frequency Percentage (%)
They should continue protecting the forest 56 22
They should consider us for small uses such as firewood and
102 40
building materials
There should be an equal utilisation of forest products 5 2
Considerations for employment of members from the village
27 11
around Ngezi
Seasonal hunting of small mammals should be allowed sometimes 1 0
in the year
Provision of social services from the management 3 1
No comments 23 9
The government should keep the promise of providing alternative to 14 5
forest use
Benefit sharing to all villages around Ngezi forest 13 5
Utilization to be allowed to trees old enough, or dropped dry tree 4 2
trunks
Provision of Conservation education to the community 9 3
Total 257 100
Having seen the comments/suggestions from the respondents, it appears that the
community around Ngezi forest is desperate in getting their user right of the forest.
Many said they wanted to be allowed to use the forest especially for their basic needs.
In a way, this appeared reasonable, although one has to work it out before the rule is
out. Previous studies around Ngezi have suggested that the area should be changed to
a higher status in conservation (Pirinen, 1995, Abdullah et al. 1996). Pirinen, (1995)
further indicated that, the management of Ngezi forest natural resources also means
that local communities should be fully involved in and benefit from the management
of natural forests and conservation areas. Pirinen further suggested the improvement
of traditional relationship between villagers and foresters. These suggestions appear
relevant for the area, but more effort is needed to successfully meet the target of
conserving the area.
The idea of changing the area to National Park appears useful, but one has to consider
other drawbacks to this step. Since the land they possess is small compared to
population annual growth rate obtained (5.4%) (URT, 2002), a more user-friendly
technique could be found to avoid most of the side effects. Since the community
around indicated their desire to use some important resources, then one need to find
something worthwhile.
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