Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
reserves were gazetted, covering more than 7500
km2; these were mainly mountain and coastal for-
ests. The irst detailed reservaion and regulation
policies were in the Rufiji mangroves. Parry
(1962) lists several of these German Reserves,
many of which have idenical areas and
boundaries today, e.g. Nou, Marang and North-
en Highlands Reserves, all in Arusha District.
German maps show the presence of minor settle-
ments in some reserves, but Lundgren (1978),
describing secondary forest in a few forest
areas, says it is likely that most reserves were
uninhabited. Whilst the Germans established
many trial plots and arboreta of exoic plant
species (e.g. at mani: Greenway, 1934), they
established very few plantaions, totalling less
than 10 km2•
The onset of the First World War in 1914 led
to renewed encroachment of forest land by
Tanzanian peoples escaping enlisment and crop
loss. Forest resources would also have been cut
into for emergency civil and military use.
blocks of forest were declared Crown Land,
coming under Government conrol ...
(Hamilton, 1984)
By Independence in 1961, Tanzania had
reserved between 121 300 km2 (Maagi, Mkude
&
Mlowe, 1979) and 114 000 km2 (Sangster, 1962),
including some 9500 km2 of natural closed for-
ests, and the rest woodland. By 1979 the figures
had reached 133 500 km2 or 15% of Tanzania's
land surface. By comparison, in Kenya some
16 600 km2 was declared as forest reserve by 1961
(Honore, 1962), a similar figure to that of today,
covering 3% of Kenya's land surface (Lusigi,
1982).
Early policies regarding acquisiion of forest
land stressed the role of protecion forestry.
Principal objecives of orestry stressed the 'main-
tenance and improvement of climaic and physical
condiions of the country' and the need to 'con-
seve and regulate water supplies by the protec-
ion of the catchmens' (Honore, 1962). The
importance of forest cover in maintaining climatic
stability was emphasised in the ruling that tea
estates in the Usambaras should maintain some
40% of their area as forest so as to perpetuate
mist and occult precipitaion (Hamilton
&
Mwasha, 1990).
Hamilton (1984) describes the growth and
changes of forest policy in Uganda; this descrip-
ion is undoubtedly relevant to what happened in
Kenya and Tanzania as well. A report in 1929
stressed the role of forestry in climate and water
regulaion and recommended much greater pro-
tection and major afforestaion; Uganda then had
some 11% natural moist thicket and forest! This
report was followed by an official forest policy
statement in 1948, which stressed two objecives:
Forest and land use in colonial times: the
British period
Hamilton (1984) states that the Forestry Depart-
ment of Uganda started in 1898, Honore (1962)
tells us that the Kenya Forest Deparment came
into being in 1902; that of Tanganyika started in
1919 with the appoinment of a Conservator to
administer the reserves of the former German
colony. Parry (1962) says that some private Ger-
man
estates with much forest on the Usambaras
were converted to forest reserves. Rodgers
&
Homewood
(l
982a) list the present-day East
Usambara forest reserves which were German
reserves or estates.
The patten of land acquisiion in Tanzania
was probably similar to that which occurred in
Uganda, where it has been well documented by
Hamilton:
The process of acquiring land by the Forest
Deparment was gradual and to a degree
unsystematic, and it was not unil the 1940s that
the boundaries of the forest estate, more or less
as they now stand, became established. All larger
(a) To reserve in perpetuity, for the benefit of
the present inhabitants of Uganda, and of
posterity, suficient land to maintain climaic
conditions suitable for agriculture, to
preserve water supplies, to provide forest
produce and to maintain soil stability.
(b) To manage this forest estate to obtain the
best returns on its capital value and the
expenses of management, in so far as such
returns are consistent with the primary aims
set out above.
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