eastern arc mountains forests of tanzania - Campaign for the ...

Eastern Arc Mountains Forests of Tanzania
6. Monitoring
6.a Key indicators for measuring state of conservation
The Eastern Arc Mountains have a number of monitoring schemes in place that can provide information on how well
managed the property is.
Protected Area coverage
The national parks, nature reserves, national and local authority forest reserves, and village land forest reserves have
been mapped in Tanzania. Digital versions of these maps have been compiled and have been made available within
the World Database on Protected Areas (www.wdpa.org). Maintaining this database is a priority for UNEP-WCMC,
and the Forestry and Beekeeping Division and TANAPA both provide data to this database.
Forest Area change
The Eastern Arc has been assessed in terms of its total forest area in 1955, 1975, 1990, 2000 and this is currently
being updated to 2008. This remote sensing shows that of the total of 366,000 ha of forest remaining in 2000,
about 0.9% has been lost (1,910 ha) between years 1990 and 2000 across Eastern Arc Mountains region. This
is an annual rate of loss of around 0.1% per annum. Preliminary analysis suggests that loss has continued until the
present day, but that the rates have slowed as reserve boundaries are reached.
Remote sensing of forest cover provides a useful tool to determine the importance of protected areas in retaining
forest cover, and also pin point areas of encroachment into the reserves. Summary statics of the forest change in the
Eastern Arc are below.
Forest area statistics within the different forest zones of the Eastern Arc Mountains across time (Forestry
and Beekeeping Division 2005)
Zone
Lowland
Historical 1955 1975 2000
Rate of change/ year
1955-75 1975-00
montane 3,580 624 361 286 -1.78 -0.95
Submontane 4,861 748 480 440 -1.55 -1.85
Montane
Upper
6,819 1954 1649 1559 -0.73 -0.27
montane 2,734 1410 1309 1262 -0.35 -0.18
It is the intention of the Tanzanian Government that new funding, for example from REDD projects in Tanzania,
would be used to make detailed updates of the forest area in the Eastern Arc Mountains over time. Re-assessments
on a five year period are proposed within the Eastern Arc Conservation Strategy document.
Management Effectiveness. The Forestry and Beekeeping Division has undertaken a detailed assessment of the
status of management of the reserves in the Eastern Arc, using the ‘Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool’ or
METT. This tool was used in 150 Forest Reserves in the Eastern Arc Mountains in 2004/05 (FBD 2005a). A
sample of these Forest Reserves (30) was reassessed in 2009 and results are being analysed. An average score of
34.4% was obtained in 2004/05, which implies that the sites are moderately managed, but with significant area
for improved management with more funding, more staffing, better management plans, and better
Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism