Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests of Tanzania and Kenya ...

Table 3. Major threats in the Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests hotspotMain ThreatsEastern Arc Mountains (GEF 2002) Coastal Forests (WWF-EARPO 2002)Commercial agriculturePressure on forest resourcesSubsistence agricultureAgricultureCommercial timberSettlementDomestic timberUrbanizationIntentional firesLack of legal protectionHousehold useWildlife-human conflicts (elephants)AgricultureHistorically, commercial agriculture has been responsible for some clearance and fragmentationof forest. There are large tea estates in Iringa, Tanga and Kagera on land that was formerlyforested. Some patches of forest in these estates have been preserved, e.g. at Ambangulu. In thelowlands, sisal estates also cleared large areas of forest, especially around the East Usambaras inTanzania. The largest current threats, however, come from the commercial cultivation ofvegetables, which are sold in the local markets and from the growing of cardamom and otherspices under forest cover.These activities result in forest clearance and the destruction of undergrowth in the forest. Theyare an important contributor to rural livelihoods and therefore pose a real problem for forestconservation as the population and the demand for arable land grows.Over the past 100 years, subsistence agriculture (mostly for maize) has been responsible for thedisappearance of most areas of unprotected forest. Forest is cleared for farm land, as it has bettergrowing potential, but, after a few years, the soils are exhausted and yields reduce to those ofother nearby non-forest agricultural lands. Inappropriate farming practices (shifting cultivationwith short fallow periods, slash and burn, cultivation on steep slopes in Eastern Arc Mountains)are common. The inevitable result, which is exacerbated by population growth, is increaseddemand for land, leading to encroachment on forests. In the absence of expanding urbanemployment and livelihood opportunities, these problems are certain to increase in the hotspot.Effective agricultural extension, promoting more sustainable and productive farming methods,can help in mitigating this threat, but price incentives, combined with strong controls orconstraints on agricultural expansion, are a more potent weapon.40