According
to Christy, L. C. et al. (2007) forest is an area with a plant cover that
provides wood or non-agricultural plant products and which shelters wildlife and directly or indirectly affects the soil, climate, or water supply.
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| The hilly forest surrounded by the beautiful waters and cliffs |
Importance of Forest
Ø Forest
resources save as a watershed – this
is because all water ultimately comes from rivers and lakes and from forest
derived water tables. Some rivers running through forest are also kept cool
from drying out.
Ø It serves as
habitants and ecosystems – forests serves as home (habitants) to millions of
animals including mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds. All these living
organisms which inhabit in the forest form a part of food chain within the
ecosystem.
Ø Forest
resource have also immense economic importance to human being – for example, plantation forest
provide human with timber and wood which is later imported/exported to be used
in all parts of the country/world. They also raise income through tourism when
people/tourist visits the country for either pleasure or leisure (to enjoy the
best of nature).
Ø It
also facilitates climate control and purification of the atmosphere for human existence – this means that trees and
soils help to regulate atmospheric temperature through a process called
evapotranspiration. This helps to stabilize the climate. In addition, they
enrich the atmosphere by absorbing “greenhouse gases” for example carbon
dioxide and producing oxygen hence removal of air pollution.
The
flora of Tanzania has been extensively inventoried. In an overall assessment of
plant endemism for tropical Africa, Tanzania was recognized as one of two
“especially rich” areas. Dividing the number of its endemic plant species (E =
1,122) by the total area in Km2 (A), gives Tanzania an Area-Endemism Index (AEI) of 837, and Zanzibar, with five endemics, and AEI of 327 (Brenan,
1978) as quoted by (Schabel 2006:18). He also argued that “Insular pockets of
wet tropical forest near the cost, in the mountains and near Lake Victoria,
account for much of this endemism, the former two having received significant
attention during the 1990s. By considering all biota, Tanzania earned a
globally outstanding biological distinctiveness index.
Forest Status
Land
and forest resources are the main natural endowments of Tanzania. However, it
is estimated that the country's forest area has declined from 44,300,000 ha or
50% of total land area in 1938 to 33, 096,000 ha or 43% of total land area in
1987. Currently forests are estimated to cover 33.5 million ha. Causes of
deforestation are mainly heavy pressure from agricultural expansion, livestock
grazing, wildfire, over-exploitation of wood resources for various purposes, and
other human activities. There are no reliable figures on deforestation in
Tanzania although according to United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) estimates, it ranges from 130,000 to 500,000 hectors per annum. The major
effect of deforestations the deterioration of the ecological system with
resulting negative impacts on soil fertility, water flows, and biological diversity.
Ø Domestic
energy demand in Tanzania has been rising rapidly in recent years because of
population growth. Tanzanian forests supply the bulk of the energy demand. Wood
accounts for 90% of the total energy used in Tanzania. While the supply of fuel
wood is dwindling, demand is rapidly increasing. More than 90% of the
population depends on wood fuel energy.
Ø Charcoal
is used widely in urban centers with an estimated consumption of 392,000 tones per
annum and charcoal burners/producers are licensed to burn charcoal in both
public woodlands and productive forest reserves. Firewood is mostly used in
rural and peril urban areas.
Ø In
1993, fuel wood consumption was estimated at 45 million cubic meters per annum,
with a per capita wood consumption of 2.0 cubic meters of round wood per annum.
The rural areas alone consumed about 43.8 million cubic meters of firewood. By
the year 2000, fuel wood demand is expected to surpass 60 million cubic meters.
It was also estimated that an average of 45,000 trees of 0.2 cubic meters size
were cut daily for fuel wood in the 1980s.
Ø Frequent
ground fires in some areas reduce the regeneration rate and the variety of woodland
plants. Forest fires are rampant particularly in natural forests where
monitoring is very difficult. The national capacity to fight fires is quite
limited both technically and financially.
Participatory
Forest Management (PFM) is a strategy to achieve sustainable forest management
by encouraging the management or co-management of forest and woodland resources
by the communities living closest to the resources. It is one of the many forms
of the more general Community-Based Natural Resources Management which has
dominated conservation thinking in Africa for the last twenty years.
The
Tanzanian Government defines PFM as “The arrangements for management that are
negotiated by multiple stakeholders and are based on set of rights and
privileges recognized by the government and widely accepted by resource users;
and the process for sharing power among stakeholders to make decisions and
exercise control over resource use”.
PFM is characterized by forest-adjacent communities sharing power as well as
benefits, and assuming owner/user rights and management of the resources. PFM can contribute to a broader rural development strategy which aims to improve
rural livelihoods and reduce poverty whilst at the same time protecting the
environment and promoting gender-equality.
A
critically important feature of PFM in Tanzania as set out in the Forest Act of
2004 is that once a community has completed the process of setting aside a new
Village Land Forest Reserve complete with an approved management plan, the
community becomes exempt from paying the regular royalties due on listed timber
species. In effect this means that the community can charge loggers the same
amount as they would otherwise pay to the government (assuming they were
logging legally), and retain those fees for themselves. Successful implementation
of this in communities supported by MCDI has seen the income derived from each
log leap 400 times compared to what villages received before MCDI started
working with them.
Rangelands refer to natural or semi-natural grazed by herbivores. Rangelands areas are
occupied by native herbaceous or shrubby vegetation and can be grazed by both
domestic and wild herbivorous (Giri, 2012). Rangelands are vast natural
landscapes in the form of grasslands, shrub lands, woodlands, wetlands and
deserts. Types of rang lands include prairies, grasslands, steppe, pampas,
scrubland woodland, savanna, desert and Tundra. Rangelands are vast natural
landscapes in the form of grasslands shrubs, woodlands, wetlands and deserts.
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| Ngorongoro Rangelands in Tanzania |
Importance of
Rangelands
Ø Livestock
production – livestock production on rangelands is very important to supply
meat for the population of the world. Others material supply are like leather,
wool, mohair, milk and other yields.
Ø Rangelands provide habitats for countless mammals, birds, amphibians, fishes and insects.
Ø Water
– most of the water in the streams and river fell instantly on rangelands or
forest. Therefore, proper management of rangeland requires careful attentions
to the amount and quality of water that flows in rangelands.
Ø Also
rangeland is important in recreation. Rangelands are increasingly important for
recreation uses such as, hiking, hunting, camping, mountain, biking, cross –
comfy skiving.
Managing Rangelands
Ø Livestock
grazing can be used to manage rangelands by harvesting forage to produce
livestock, changing plant composition or reducing fuel loads.
Ø Certain
rangelands are preserved as provincially protected areas similar to parks;
others are managed as community resources. For example in Alberta, since 2003
there has been legislation allowing the creation of "Heritage
rangelands" within the parks.
Ø Rangelands are managed by various departments for example in Australia there is Department
of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).
Fire
is also an important regulator of range vegetation, whether set by humans or
resulting from lighting, fires tend reduce these abundance of woody plants and
promote herbaceous plants including grasses, forbs and grass like plants.
Status of Rangelands
In
many livestock farming communities, it is intricately linked to social status
through accumulation of wealth and savings. It, also, provides a variety of
benefits to rural communities such as risk mitigation, food security and improved
nutrition.
The
livestock industry contribution to the Agricultural Gross Domestic Product is
quite low. For example in 2010 the industry contributed 16% and 3.8% to the Agricultural
Gross Domestic Product and National Gross Domestic Products respectively,
compared to the envisaged target of 9% by 2010. This is mainly due to low
livestock growth rates, high mortality rates, low reproductive rates and poor
quality of the final products from the industry. Modest improvement of these
production coefficients coupled with adding value through processing could
significantly increase output and income from the livestock industry.
Inventorying Rangelands
Rangelands inventory is the information collected to document and describes the existing
resource status within a management unit. Features included depend on the
purpose of the inventory, but in rangeland situations are likely to entail
vegetation types, range sites, range condition, carrying capacity, soil types,
utilization patterns, topography, streams, habitat assessments for wildlife,
and improvements such as roads, watering points, and fences.
Wildlife is an Anglo-American term which is difficult to translate into other languages.
The wildlife management policy adapted in 1988 by the states of the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) describes wildlife as it can be associated
with animals in the jungle, or wilderness, untamed animals or it can be used as
an expression when a person is out of control (Roth & Merz 1996).
Importance of wildlife
Ø To
maintain ecological “balance of nature” and maintain food chain and nature
cycles.
Ø Also
wildlife has economic value – many wild plants provide useful substances like
timber, paper, and gums. They also have wide application in Ayurveda and other
branches of medicine. Wild animal products are tusk, ivory, leather, and honey.
Ø However,
most important contribution of wildlife for human progress is availability of
large gene pool for the scientists to carry breeding programs in agriculture
animal husbandry and fishery.
Ø Wildlife also provides aesthetic value to man/human being.
The
creation of national parks and game reserves constitutes a great step in
wildlife conservation for example TANAPA for preservation and conservation of
wildlife for sustainable and future development of the nation. Wildlife need a
serious review of its laws and implementation and hence sustainability.
Ø The
areas that require that may require special consideration in developing
management plans. This may include areas of sensitive soils, unique plants,
riparian areas, adjacent land uses, recreation and historical sites.
Status of Wildlife
Tanzania's
wildlife protected area covers 28% of the total land area, of which 19% is
devoted to wildlife in protected National Parks where no human settlement is
allowed. The rest of the area wildlife co-exists with humans. The wildlife sector contributes approximately 2% to the GDP. Tourism is among the sectors
with great economic growth potential for the nation. For example, our country
has 804 kilometers of unpolluted beach areas. In addition, there exist beautiful
waterfalls, valleys, large rivers, hot springs, National Parks, which offer
outstanding experience for tourists and recreation purposes. Depletion of water
in some rivers during dry season, disrupted the lives of animals, and thus,
results in serious consequences to the tourism industry and the national
economy.
Inventorying Wildlife
This
include documentation of the mammals, birds reptiles and amphibians present on
a site, with an assessment of the value of the different wildlife habitats
present, and look at the sites significance in the context of the landscape. Wildlife is detected using a combination
of sighting, sounds, tracks in design Wildlife is important for maintaining the
balance of ecosystems and preservation of our cultural heritage and as a source
for valuable information for scientific studies (Santra 1998). Wildlife sanctuaries
are often times impacts by the following.
Ø Indiscriminate
destruction of forest through logging, the demand for fuel wood has been so
great in many peripheral regions that forest reserves are being rapidly used up
for example in Brazil's rain forest loses each year 0.6 percent of its area were
cleared for forest. The same to China, India and Indonesia is responsible for
the loss of species.
Ø Burning
of various vegetation and forest lead to the disappearances of species such as
fauna and flora, thus loss of wildlife habitats with it wetland (Santra, 1998).
Ø Poor
agricultural practices in a region can cause depletion of various Species within
the parks for example large scale pollution, deforestation and overgrazing.
The
loss of habitat, degradation of habitat, deforestation, clearing for
agriculture and urbanization all cause the loss of habitat (Roger 1999). Over
hunting has caused a number of birds and mammals to become extinct or
endangered for example 1900s is the classic example in the united states where
large mammals such as blue whales, cheetahs and black rhinoceroses, seem
especially vulnerable to over hunting and their extinctions would have unknown
ripple effects in their ecosystem.
Also
in the 1880s snowy egrets were almost wiped out for their plumage, which was
used to decorate ladies hats.
Toxic
such as pesticides and pollutant degrade habitats and cause unintentional death
of wildlife, for example in New York l984, 700 Atlantic brand feeding on the
greens died within two days, many pesticides such as DDT, pass through the food
web and accumulate in predators at the top of the food chain by bio magnifications.
The
introduction of an alien species also called an exotic species, in the new environment
changes the ecosystem and often results in the loss of native species. Every
species in part of the food web within an ecosystem, and an exotic species is a
competitor for food and too often a new predator.
REFERENCES
Schabel,
H. G. (2006). Forest Entomology in East
Africa; Forest Insects of Tanzania. Netherlands:
Springer.
Giri,
C. P. (2012). Remote Sensing of Land Use
and Land Cover: Principles and Applications. USA: CRC Press.
Roth,
H. H. & Merz, G. (1996). Wildlife Resources: A Global Account of Economic Use. New York: Springer.
Christy,
L. C. et al. (2007). Forest Law and
Sustainable Development: Addressing Contemporary
Challenges through Legal Reform. New York: World Bank Publications.
Santra,
(1998). Heavy Metal Levels in Marketable
Vegetables and Fishes in Calcutta Metropolitan
Area. India: Kalyani University.
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