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

The coastal forests found in the study area are of national biodiversity importance (Burgess and Clarke,
2000). Lindi District contains more threatened animal and plant species found in coastal forests than any
other district in Tanzania, whilst Kilwa District has the highest number of critically endangered plants
found in coastal forests (Table 5).
The study area includes a significant proportion of the Selous Game Reserve (Figure 6), although wildlife
also occurs outside protected areas. Significant returns, mostly at national level, are accrued from tourism
in the Selous Game Reserve. At the local level, greater financial returns to communities in the study area
come from trophy hunting and government approved sales of game meat (Baldus et al., 2001; Malima,
2002; Ndunguru et al., 1998). Communities also consume large but unquantified amounts of game meat
from illegal sources (Barnett, 2000).
Benefits from wild animal species are poorly understood when compared to timber products, and it is not
known whether they offset the significant impacts of human-wildlife conflicts such as threats to personal
life and property (Anon., 1998c; Hahn and Kaggi, 2001). The study area has amongst the highest levels
of human-wildlife conflict in the country (Milledge et al., 2003). Between October 2002 and February
2003, lions on the southern Rufiji River delta floodplain, which borders the Selous Game Reserve, killed
13 people and wounded an additional four. The farming communities in Rufiji District lose on average
20% of their crops to wildlife (Hamerlynck, 2003).
A large proportion of the population of Lindi and Mtwara Regions live near the coast and approximately
5500 fishermen and 1700 vessels may be found along the coastline of Kilwa, Lindi and Mtwara Districts
(Anon., 2001d). The marine ecosystem, coral reefs in particular, provide food, services and employment
opportunities, although most reefs in Lindi and Mtwara Regions are extensively damaged above a depth
of 10m, primarily by dynamite fishing (Anon., 2001g). Kilwa, Lindi and Mtwara together have a total of
64 permanent landing sites (Anon., 2001d). Nearly 60% of households in Rufiji District engage in
fishing activities and, in those households, fishing accounts for some 70% of the income from natural
resources (Turpie, 2000).
Kilwa, Lindi and Mtwara Districts support 22 430, 4500 and 8940 ha of mangrove forest respectively,
whilst the Rufiji delta supports the largest single mangrove forest in eastern Africa, covering 53 000 ha
(Anon., 2001g). The main threat to mangroves is overexploitation, especially to produce poles for
building and export, firewood and charcoal. Trade in mangrove products was not covered in detail during
this study although they are in high demand. Conversion of habitat for agricultural production presents
another threat. In the northern Rufiji delta alone, over 1700 ha of mangrove were cleared for rice
cultivation in the decade from 1989 and 1999, and current replanting efforts are unable to compensate for
the continued clearing (Anon., 2002h).
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