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

Eastern Arc Mountains Forests of Tanzania
The specific threats to the individual components of the Eastern Arc Mountains World Heritage Site are outlined
below:
Name Main threats / management challenges
Chome proposed
Nature Reserve
Magamba
proposed Nature
Reserve
Nilo Nature
Reserve
Amani Nature
Reserve
Mkingu proposed
Nature Reserve
Uluguru Nature
Reserve
Kilombero
Nature Reserve
Udzungwa
Mountains
National Park
Uzungwa Scarp
proposed Nature
Reserve
Logging of Ocotea usambarensis and Podocarpus species. Still an issue even despite
efforts of central government to control. Fire spreading into the reserve and causing
grassland and bracken dominated areas to expand at the expense of natural forest.
Hunting animals for food.
Logging of Ocotea usambarensis and Podocarpus species. Presence of exotic conifer
plantations on the margins of the reserve. Hunting animals for food.
Small scale logging of timber species and the collection of firewood and minor forest
products. Hunting animals for food.
Gold mining along streams and in swampy areas was an issue in recent years. Small
scale collection of forest products. Occasional fire spreading from lowlands into the forest
on the drier western margins.
Underplanting of forest with cardamom. A forest enclave of farming people. Fires
spreading from the lowlands into the forest on the southern margins. Some logging of
valuable species. Hunting animals for food.
Collection of firewood at higher altitudes. Logging of trees for timber and for the
production of utensils in the forest above Morogoro town. Some invasion by Rubus
species in the southern forests. Hunting animals for food.
Hunting of larger mammals at low intensity, including poaching of elephants. Fires
spreading from grasslands into forest areas.
Fires spreading from grasslands into forest areas. Increasing human populations need
more firewood from the park and there is an increasing pressure for other resources as
well. Presence of exotic teak trees in the natural forest.
Hunting pressure on larger mammals, including endemic monkeys. Logging of trees for
timber. Cutting of woody materials as firewood and building poles.
(ii) Environmental pressures (e.g., pollution, climate change, desertification)
The Eastern Arc Mountains do not suffer very much from pollution. It is not believed that there is any impact on the
natural habitats of the forests or grasslands. There is also very little industry and not much use of agricultural
fertilizers or pesticides. Rivers that flow in areas of high population density outside the forest areas might have
moderate levels of pollution – from human excrement and from washing clothes.
The Eastern Arc is likely to be heavily impacted by climate change in the coming years. Although the region of East
Africa is predicted to get somewhat wetter, it will also get hotter. This climatic change is predicted to drive some of
the species up the mountains, and potentially out of available climate space. As such some of the narrowly endemic
high mountain specialists may suffer adversely, or even become extinct. However, it is hard to generalise as the
mountains are highly topographically varied and it could be possible that all species will be able to survive in tiny
habitat remnants, for example in valleys or gullies and hence maintain populations even under climatic changes.
There is not going to be any impact of desertification on the Eastern Arc Mountains. This is because the Eastern Arc
is well away from the regions that are suffering from deforestation.
(iii) Natural disasters and risk preparedness (earthquakes, floods, fires, etc.)
The Eastern Arc Mountains do not suffer from earthquakes, cyclones of major floods.
The Mountains are somewhat prone to landslides and landslips. But this does not cause a major impact on the
forests, except for in a few exceptionally unstable areas.
Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism 84