Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
pendent on foreign economic assistance. The
deterioraion in Tanzania's economy in the 1980s
has led to greatly reduced efficiencies of forest
staff in the field. A ypical monthly wage of 2200
shs does not buy food for a family. Uniforms,
machetes, notebooks, travel allowance payments,
ransport, funds for labourer assistance, etc. are
not available. There is a minimum of supervision
from senior staff, and responsibiliies and duies
are not clearly spelled out. Several Forest Guards
and Foresters interviewed in the Usambaras in
1989 clearly stated they were no longer able to
patrol.
Today we are in a situaion where govenment
is cognisant of the need to conserve and manage
eficiently. It is no longer a quesion of conserva-
ionists trying to persuade an unconvinced
govenment. Govenment is convinced. What
conservaionists need to do now is to provide
detailed implementaion plans and help persuade
donor agencies to fund them.
stock, energy, water, tourism, etc. TFAP takes the
following as key issues.
1. The enhancement of forest sector
contribuion to naional economic
development, especially in the key linkages
to agriculture and water.
2. The involvement of local people in forest
based rural development aciviies.
3. The conservaion of ecosystem and
biological values.
TFAP has generated a great deal of preliminary
survey, discussion and reporting; For example
Bensted-Smith
&
Msangi (1989) discuss inputs
for a stratey or biological value conservaion.
Principles behind this strategy are:
To enable key people (managers, decision
makers and local users of the forests) involved in
forest conservaion to develop the knowledge,
capability and motivaion to use the forests
sustainably and to develop educaion and
moivaion amongst local people to conseve
forest resources.
Kenya
Like Tanzania, Kenya has experienced a change
in govenmental atitudes to forest conservaion in
the past five years. An immediate example comes
from two Presidenial Direcives, one banning the
conversion of indigenous forest for plantaions
(1984), and one banning the cuting of indigenous
rees (1988). The introducion to the World Bank
foresry review (1988) stresses the urgency of the
forest crisis:
The conservaion strategy has eight components.
To finalise policies, and guidelines to
implement policies, that allow conservaion
and sustainable use of natural use (the
premise here is that FORPOL should be
a dynamic document, constantly under
review to improve the end results).
To promote conservaion awareness about forest
resources and their benefits.
To collect scienific informaion and simulate
research on forest ecosystems.
To ensure informaion flow to the field forest
manager.
To develop management plans for the
sustainable use of forests.
To establish a network of nature reserves.
To increase capabiliies and moivaions of
managers and forest users.
To harmonise forestry with other land uses on
non-reserved land.
Given the economic condiions in Tanzania
today, implementaion of TFAP will be de-
The forestry sub-sector is facing serious
problems. If they are not addressed soon, the
economic costs incurred could be great. Criical
watershed protecion forests are in danger of
being lost to encroachment or damaged
irreparably, threatening downsream agriculture
...; human populaions ..., hydroelecric
schemes ..., and future generaions through the
loss of invaluable genepools of flora and fauna
(World Bank, 1988)
The lack of rain-fed agricultural land and the
rapidly growing naional populaion (4% p.a.)
point to excessive pressure on forest land. This is
real and is already resuling in extensive
encroachment on legal and open forest land:
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