The conservation of the forest resources of eastern Africa: past influences, present practices and future needs - Biogeography and Ecology of the Rain Forests of Eastern Africa - page 290

Table 14.2. Relationship between the amount of orest cover and the impotance of catchment oresty in East
Afi ca

Importance given to catchment Land with over 800 mm Natural closed forest

Country conservation precipitation (%) cover (%)

Kenya Much emphasis 15 2.3

Tanzania Moderate emphasis 51 2.5

Uganda Little emphasis 78 4.6

Source: From Griffiths, 1962; Lusigi, 1982; Hamilton, 1984; Rodgers et al., l 985a.

given to water catchment protection forestry, in
each East African country varies inversely with the
proportion of land with high rainfall and good
forest cover (Table 14.2).
Forest Deparments in East Africa have been
slow to make adequate provision in terms of
finance, personnel and equipment for the
fundamental protecion of the forests.

able forest area on Mount Meru, but Kilimanjaro
Naional Park still has only a cosmetic forest frac-
tion. All of these five parks have been created
primarily for scenic, large mammal and tourist
purposes. The forests are included almost as a
secondary role. In 1986 Tanzania implemented
park status for the Mahale Mountains specifically
for forest values - water, fauna (especially
chimpanzee) and flora. The Uzungwa Naional
Park was gazeted in 1992, the irst to be protec-
ted for biodiversity, and the first component of the
'Eastern Arc' to be given realisic protecion.
The late 1980s have seen the realisaion at
govenment level of the necessiy of a natural for-
est cover for maintaining water, soil and climatic
resources in both Kenya and Tanzania. The
naions' agriculture is in many ways dependent on
these resources. At the same ime govenments, at
both political and administrative levels, have
become aware of the rapidly increasing pace of
forest loss and land degradation in the closed for-
est mountainous areas and in the semi-arid
regions of the country. After a decade of
ambivalence over the conservaio/catchment or
commercial timber values of the East Usambara
Mountains including the closure of FINNIDA
supported logging operations, a government
sponsored report (Finnmap-Silvestre, 1988) has
firmly stated the maintenance of intact forest
cover and catchment capability to be the main two
objecives of forest management.

Such a low profile attitude has led to protection
forestry having an inadequate role in
development planning and must have conributed
to an aura of indifference among producers,
administrators and local leaders.

(Lusigi, 1982)

Rodgers, Hall & Mwasumbi (1983) document a
case of five separate small forest reserves of closed
forest on the wet slopes of the Ulugurus all being
controlled by a single forest guard. The largest
natural closed forest reserve in Tanzania, West
Kilombero Scarp, has a single guard. This con-
trasts greatly with nearby game reserves which
have protection staff in the hundreds. Two
deparments in the same Ministry, forestry and
wildlife, have developed different concepts of the
problems and soluions of resource protecion.

Forests and land use practices since 1985

The last decade has seen the start of forest pro-
tecion for biological as well as soil water and
imber resources. Kenya has three mountain
naional parks, all with considerable areas of for-
est and all valuable water catchments: the
Aberdares, Mount Elgon and Mount Kenya. In
Tanzania, Arusha Naional Park has a consider-

Ta nzania
In Tanzania these realisaions of the importance
of good forest cover have led to the development
of two important documents, which themselves