Bridging the Gap: linking timber trade with infrastructural ...

mm and relatively unreliable. The herbaceous layer consists of medium to tall C4 grasses. In drier
areas, Julbernardia and Combretum species become dominant.
Wet miombo is mainly found in west and south-west Tanzania. These are floristically rich woodlands,
often dense with a canopy usually greater than 15 m high with Brachystegia species being dominant.
Annual rainfall is usually more than 1000 mm. The herbaceous layer comprises tall grasses such as
Hyparrhenia. In the wettest areas the dominant trees are only briefly deciduous, the canopy is almost
closed and shade tolerant species such as Rubiaceae are found in the understorey.
Itigi thicket is mainly found in Singida Region. It consists of dry deciduous forests dominated by
Baphia and Combretum species and Bussea massaiensis. Edaphic grasslands, floodplains and wetlands
that are included in miombo woodland vegetation cover are found in Rukwa, Tabora, Kigoma and
Shinyanga Regions. In addition, Afromontane vegetation, consisting of a mosaic of moist evergreen
forest and grasslands, is found within miombo woodlands. In Tanzania, Afromontane vegetation is
found in mountainous areas in Morogoro, Iringa, Mbeya, Rukwa, Kigoma and Kagera Regions.
Miombo woodlands also merge with Acacia-savanna grasslands, Acacia-Commiphora thornbush and
coastal thickets (Holmes, 1995; Kojwang, 2001; Anon., 2000b).
Annex 4.
Description of study area
Coast Region
Coast Region covers an area of 33 539 km 2 with two-thirds defined as public land (Table 37). Coast
Region is divided into six districts, namely Bagamoyo, Kibaha, Kisarawe, Mkuranga, Rufiji and Mafia.
Based on the 1988 population census, Coast Region has a population of over 820 000 people with an
average density of 24.6 people per km 2 . The average household size in the region is 4.86 (Anon.,
1997f). Rufiji District, the only district in Coast Region in the study area, covers a total of 14 471 km 2
(including 1,132 km 2 covered by the Rufiji River with its large flood plain and delta, the most extensive
in the country). It is composed of six divisions, 19 wards and 94 villages and 385 hamlets (Mwageni et
al., 2002; Table 38). Rufiji District had an estimated population of 182 000 in 2002, equivalent to 12.6
people per km 2 (Mwageni et al., 2002).
Table 37
Land use in Coast Region
Land use
Estimated
area (km 2 )
% total land
area
Public land (mostly open forests, shrubs and bushes with no defined owner) 22 642 67.5
Forest reserves 3 013 9.0
Crop land (land under cultivation for food and cash crops) 2 991 8.9
Grazing land (land suitable for grazing) 2 147 6.4
Water area (land under water) 1 132 3.4
State farms (land allocated for diary cattle farming, ranches and plantations) 1 021 3.0
Settlements (land used for human settlements) 593 1.8
Total 33 539 100
Source: Anon. (1997f).
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