TANZANIA

Tanzania's forests cover nearly 40% of the land area. Most of the forest is savanna woodland and montane forest (mixed forest with more than 30% canopy cover), and there are some scattered patches of lowland forest.

Much of the forest has high levels of biodiversity and many endemic species, which are threatened by a deforestation rate of over 1% per year. Although 40% of the country is protected in parks, forest cover fell by 15% between 1990 and 2005 and the deforestation rate has accelerated since 2000. The main causes of deforestation are felling for fuelwood by a rapidly expanding population, commercial felling and expanding agriculture, the latter of which makes up 58% of GNP. Fires destroy or degrade 9,000 ha annually.

Tanzania's timber exports have grown by 1,400% in value since 1997. Concerns over deforestation led the government to ban the export of logs in July 2004. However, the regulations were not effectively enforced and illegal logging continued almost unabated. A report by TRAFFIC estimated that Tanzania lost $58 million a year in 2004 and 2005 in timber revenue due to poor governance and corruption in the forestry sector. In early 2006, the government reinforced the export ban on logs and sandalwood. In addition, 100 million trees were planted between 1990 and 2006 in an attempt to address some of the damage and provide sources of timber.

Recently, there has been a great deal of concern over the export of timber to China. Between July 2005 and January 2006, China accounted for all indigenous hardwood log exports and three-quarters of sawn wood and raw material. China's growing demand for timber is seen as a real threat to the survival of Tanzania's commercially valuable forests. The government has seized a number of shipments of logs destined for China, and taken legal action against customs officials and export companies. Offences include logging without documentation, logging in unauthorised areas, and the use of invalid export documentation. However, the government and enforcement agencies are struggling to keep pace with the illegal logging activity.

DOCUMENTS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
29/05/2009	Tropical Forest Tenure Assessment: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities The goal of this report is to present and analyse the state of forest tenure in much of the world's ...	Rights and Resources Initiative / International Tropical Timber Organisation
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01/02/2008	Forest Products Trade between China and Africa: An Analysis of Imports and Exports Recent media coverage of China's efforts to secure access to natural resources in Africa suggests ...	Forest Trends (Kerstin Canby, James Hewitt, Luke Bailey, Eugenia Katsigris, Sun Xiufang)
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01/05/2007	Forestry, Governance and National Development: Lessons learned from a logging boom in Southern Tanzania 'Forestry, governance and national development' documents alarming levels of corruption, illegal ...
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22/11/2005	Failing the Forests: Europe's Illegal Timber Trade Based on trade data for six key timber-producing regions – the Amazon Basin, the Baltic States, ...	WWF
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01/04/2004	Lessons Learnt on Sustainable Forest Management in Africa: Study on Forest Administration and Related Institutional Arrangements This study is a component of a wider initiative jointly undertaken by the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture ...	Owino, Prof. F (Forest Resources International, Kenya) & Ndinga, Dr A (Dakar Fann, Senegal)
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01/06/2003	Legal Origin of Timber as a Step Towards Sustainable Forest Management in Africa Argues that although voluntary partnerships may produce some positive outcomes at the local level, real ...	SGS for the WWF/World Bank Alliance
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30/10/2002	Forest Law Assessment in Selected African Countries This report has been produced as one of two major outputs of work commissioned by the World Bank/WWF ...	SGS for the WWF/World Bank Alliance
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NEWS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
03/08/2010	Model shows 'waves of forest degradation' An international team of researchers has developed a model that suggests degradation of tropical forests ...	BBC News
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22/06/2010	Searching for solutions to global warming in Africa Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - What would the wealthy nations of the West (and their rising rivals in the ...	The New York Observer
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12/05/2010	TZ forests to disappear in 10 decades Tanzania’s entire forest cover will disappear in about 10 to 16 decades if the current high level ...	The Citizen, Tanzania
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22/03/2010	Tz timber shortage fuels deforestation Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania - Tanzania is suffering from high global prices of forest products because of ...	East African Business Week
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18/01/2010	World's first sustainably harvested African blackwood The world’s first sustainably harvested African blackwood generates new income for Tanzanian forest ...	Sound and Fair Campaign
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20/11/2009	How to axe a destructive practice Deforestation is a huge problem for much of Africa. Blanche Girouard visits northern Tanzania where she ...	Guardian, UK
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21/10/2009	Leaps forward in satellite forest monitoring Efforts to tackle deforestation and develop a robust REDD mechanism have received a double boost this ...	Carbon Positive
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25/09/2009	Africa's burning charcoal problem At a road block in western Tanzania, miles from anywhere, a uniformed official raises a flagged barrier. ...	BBC News
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23/07/2009	The need to check deforestation in West Africa Achieving long-term development in West Africa requires much more than just exploiting the region's ...	Business Day, Nigeria
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26/06/2009	Out of Africa ... UQ law researchers to investigate environmental crime and corruption in Tanzania Legal experts from UQ will head to Tanzania in August to investigate the country's capacity to prosecute ...	University of Queensland, Australia
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16/06/2009	Illegal Timber traders invade Chama district A Senior Government Official in Chama District says illegal timber dealers have invaded areas in chiefs ...	Lusaka Times
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28/05/2009	Indigenous people, forest communities in Africa control less than 2% of forest land Less than 2 percent of Africas tropical forests are under community control, hindering efforts to slow ...	Mongabay.com
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25/05/2009	Slow forest tenure reform threatens Africa's action against climate change A new report released today at a major global forestry conference in Cameroon has found that deforestation ...	Africa Science News Service (Kenya)
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13/05/2009	Tanzania's forests under threat Tanzania is facing a serious threat from deforestation amid reports that the country is losing an average ...	The Citizen, Tanzania
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16/04/2009	Africa: countries funded to plan forest protection Five developing countries have received US$18 million in funding to plan how to implement a proposed ...	allAfrica.com
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01/04/2009	$18 million approved under UN-REDD Programme Funds will back forestry programmes combating climate change and boosting local livelihoods ...	FAO
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19/03/2009	REDD funds approved for pilot nations UN agencies have released initial funding to five pilot countries to prepare avoided deforestation action ...	Carbon Positive
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07/02/2009	Tanzanian timber being smuggled by sea to Emirates In a bid to stem illegal shipping of forest products out of its territory, Tanzania has acquired and ...	East African (Kenya)
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27/01/2009	Illegal logging must be checked Tanzania - Illegal loading is threatening and increasingly putting at risk 33.5 million hectares of forest ...	DailyNewsOnline (United Republic of Tanzania)
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09/11/2008	Failure to implement protection laws decimating forests in Eastern Africa Even as the effects of climate change continue to bite, deforestation and land degradation continue unabated ...	Africa Science News Service (Kenya)
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08/10/2008	Indonesia, Papua NG, Vietnam ask UN for assistance to combat deforestation Hanoi - Three of Asias most rapidly deforesting countries - Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam - ...	Green Assembly Asia Environment
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22/12/2007	China spurring illegal timber trade in Tanzania Washington, USA - Scientists have said that due to China's increasing demands for timber, illegal ...	Thaindian.com (Thailand)
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21/12/2007	China Spurring Illegal Timber Trade in Tanzania China's growing hunger for timber may wipe out much of Tanzania's commercially valuable forests ...	National Geographic (USA)
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12/10/2007	Huge load of export logs seized in Dar Tanzania - Natural Resources and Tourism ministry officials swung into action at the Dar es Salaam port ...	IPP Media (Tanzania)
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16/08/2007	Mpanda impounds over 380m/- timber Tanzania - Mpanda District authorities in Rukwa Region have impounded over 11,000 pieces of timber worth ...	Daily News (Tanzania)
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30/07/2007	Illegal logging: Dar now sending team to 'buyer' countries The Tanzanian Revenue Authority is to send a team of experts to 'beneficiary' countries China, ...	The East African (Kenya)
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29/03/2007	Report: China, India are raping hardwoods Tanzania - Chinese and Indian emerging markets are wrecking havoc of the country's forest cover ...	This Day (Tanzania)
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22/03/2007	Dirty work in the woods Tanzania is losing US$ 58 million annually due to non-collection of forest product royalties, the result ...	The Express (Tanzania)
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10/05/2006	Minister admits staff involvement Tanzania - The government is unable to break up a syndicate that exports logs illegally because employees ...	IPP Media (Guardian)
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17/02/2006	Tanzanian government bans log exports again The Tanzanian government on 27 January decided to ban exports of logs and sandalwood and suspend tree ...	Bridges Trade BioRes
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07/02/2006	Tanzania's Move to Save Its Forests Angers Loggers Some 26 logging firms in East Africa say they stand to lose more than $ 4.6 million as well as their ...	The East African (Kenya)
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02/02/2006	Tanzania bans log exports again The Tanzanian government has banned the exports of logs with immediate effect to protect dwindling ...	Comtex Environment
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12/07/2005	Rufiji forests under threat as traders defy logging ban Tanzania - Illegal logging is rife in Rufiji District forests despite the ban imposed by the government ...	IPP Media (Tanzania)
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11/02/2005	Illegal tree felling on rise in Tanzania DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - An average of 91,000 hectaresof forests is illegally felled each year in Tanzania ...	Xinhuanet (China)
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11/01/2005	Forest fires, illegal logging threaten Mt. Kilimanjaro: survey DAR ES SALAAM - Tanzania - Frequent forest fires and rampant illegal logging have combined to encroach ...	Xinhua (China)
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21/09/2004	Log traders 'destroying' evidence Tanzania - As the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism conducts verification of ownership of abandoned ...	IPP Media, Tanzania
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09/08/2004	Illegal logging thrives in Tanga Tanzania - The illegal export of logs through Tanga port is a well-coordinated activity involving some ...	IPP Media
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01/08/2004	Illegal loggers stalking Selous Tanzania - A month after the government imposed a ban on logging to protect natural resources, there ...	IPP Media
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28/07/2004	Step down, Meghji told Tanzania - The Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Zakhia Meghji, has been asked to resign so ...	IPP Media
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17/07/2004	Four suspended Tanzania - The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has suspended effective from yesterday four ...	IPP Media
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16/07/2004	Poaching, illegal logging strange bedfellows in Rufiji Tanzania - Poaching of elephants for their tusks is rampant in Rufiji District and goes on alongside ...	IPP Media
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14/07/2004	Logs for export battle set to go to court Four companies with log consignments for export held up at the Dar es Salaam Port, have threatened Tanzania ...	IPP Media
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14/07/2004	…as inspection at Dar port aborts Tanzania - Containers inspection to check 'illegal' logs for export by the Ministry of Natural ...	IPP Media
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12/07/2004	Logging scam: Forestry officials under fire Tanzania - Village government officials in Rufiji District have accused District Forestry officials of ...	The Guardian, Tanzania
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PRESENTATIONS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
18/06/2008	The Study Tour to Africa	WWF China (Nan Li)
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01/11/2007	Illegal logging and governance in Tanzania and links with China	TRAFFIC East Africa & China Programme (Simon Milledge/Liu Xueyan)
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09/07/2007	Forestry governance and economic development in Tanzania	TRAFFIC (Simon Milledge)
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EVENTS

DATE	TITLE
Monday 9th July 2007	Illegal Logging Update and Stakeholder Consultation Number 10 The tenth in a series of meetings coordinated by Chatham House and funded by DFID, the update was held ...
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Monday 6th December 2004	Commission For Africa ' Forest Programme Brainstorm A brainstorming session on illegal logging held in part to feed into the Commission for Africa Report, ...
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LINKS

TITLE	DESCRIPTION	REPORT
FARM-Africa	FARM-Africa provides the training and support that poor rural communities need to identify and implement appropriate solutions to many of the key problems they face. FARM-Africa's community forest management project is working with forest-dependent people in Ethiopia and Tanzania. FARM-Africa works with forest communities and local authorities to develop sustainable management plans for the forests which give communities around forests real responsibility for protecting their forests and in return they are allowed to use the forest in a sustainable way, making use of forest products such as wild coffee, spices, medicines and honey. FARM-Africa has helped to find new more valuable markets for these products.	Broken link
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Sound and Fair: A campaign to realise a sustainable trade in African blackwood	The Sound & Fair campaign aims to realise a sustainable trade in African blackwood through a fully-certified chain of custody linking village communities in Tanzania to woodwind instrument musicians in the UK. By safeguarding a hugely valuable natural resource, Sound and Fair will help lift some of the world’s poorest people out of poverty.	Broken link
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