Frontier Tanzania Environmental Research REPORT 110 ...

Kazimzumbwi Forest Reserve
3
1.1.5 PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT
At least in Kenya and Tanzania, the majority (c.80%) of Coastal Forests are under some form of
government protection (Burgess et al. 2000). Within these countries 56 forests covering 1001km 2 (out
of a total of 1386km 2 ) have the status of Forest Reserve. Smaller numbers and areas of Coastal Forests
have the status of National Park, National Reserve, National Monument (Kenya only), Game Reserve
or Sacred forest. Within Tanzania, 21 forests covering 145km 2 are of no known status. Many Forest
Reserves (gazetted during the colonial period before 1961) encompass a lot of non-Coastal Forest
habitat, such as woodland or thicket that may act as buffer zones to the high forest areas. Some Forest
Reserves are comprised entirely of woodland habitats along the coast and some contain plantations.
1.1.6 CONSERVATION
Coastal Forests epitomise the difficulty of conservation; they are small and highly fragmented patches
surrounded by relatively impoverished rural communities, with a high and growing demand for and
dependence on forest resources (Rodgers 2000). All forests are distinct and have high levels of local
endemism, thus making prioiritisation difficult. A set of criteria with which to rate forests in order that
those of highest biodiversity conservation value are given priority has yet to be devised. A strategy to
identify core and buffer zones within forests to enable local use of forest edge resources and
environmental education at many levels is also lacking (Rodgers 2000). Projects run by governments,
conservation partners including NGO’s and local communities are however currently in place in many
areas and have had patchy success.
1.1.7 PREVIOUS WORK
Previous work in Coastal Forests has generally used 1:50,000 Ordanance Survey maps, government
Forestry Department records and fieldwork to assess the location, extent and legal status of various
forests. As a result of the Civil War in Mozambique however, little remains known of its Coastal
Forests (Burgess et al. 2000). In Tanzania work has been carried out by a variety of researchers
including many from Dar es Salaam and those within the Frontier-Tanzania Coastal Forest Research
Programme, run between 1980 and 1994, covering 25 Coastal Forests (see publications list at the end
of this report). Much remains to be known however about the extent of Coastal Forest, its vegetation
assemblages, the ecology and biogeography of its flora and fauna and the richness and diversity of
different forest patches.
The Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa was published in 2000 (edited by Burgess and Clarke) and is a
synthesis of information on Coastal Forests from various sources. It covers definitions, physical
background, vegetation and status, biodiversity values and human and forest interactions. This text is
considered the most current and complete work on Coastal Forests and thus its various chapters are
frequently referenced in this report.
Frontier-TanzaniaCoastal Forest Research Programme