Recent developments at TNRF

ARUSHA - A local company and indigenous community have helped to make the Karibu Travel and Tourism Fair 2013 the first travel industry fair in Africa to offset its unavoidable carbon emissions.

Partnering with Carbon Tanzania, Tanzania's first and only company dedicated to sourcing and developing community-based carbon forestry projects, the Karibu Travel and Tourism Fair is not only demonstrating its commitment to environmental sustainability, but also to social and community development. Karibu Fair is the leading travel trade event in East Africa.

On 28th May, 2013 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) convened at the parliament grounds in Dodoma for a three day exhibition supported by The Foundation for Civil Society (FCS) and organized jointly by 7 CSOs. The aim of this event is to build the relationship/collaboration between MPs and CSOs. The CSOs will also get an opportunity to present their views and opinions on the Gas Policy and also provide recommendations on how to increase government revenue.

The Speaker of the United Republic of Tanzania, Ms Anne Makinda officially opened the Exhibition attended by 70 CSOs invited from all over Tanzania. In her official speech she thanked FCS for giving her the opportunity to open this CSO exhibition. She went on and assured the participants that;

1. The government and MPs recognize the role of CSOs in supporting development initiatives in the country
2. Collaboration between CSOs and MPs is of critical importance in our country which cannot be underestimated and is important to all stakeholders
3. There is a lot of developments going on in parliament and it's important for CSOs to be updated on these developments because these influence government policies and programmes.

May 22, 2013

An international consortium of local communities, indigenous peoples and NGOs express concern to the Tanzanian Government that the proposed Loliondo GameControlled Area (GCA) will threaten both conservation and local livelihood interests.

In a letter addressed to President Kikwete, the Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism (MNRT), and others, the consortium says they are deeply concerned that excising 1,500 km² of disputed land from community access "could only have a major negative effect on local livelihoods and social wellbeing."  Furthermore, the letter states, "it could create a serious and lasting impediment to sustainable conservation practices in the broader Serengeti region."

This week, TNRF is participating in a workshop on ‘New Generation Plantations Platform (NGP) for Responsible Plantation Forestry in South Africa and Africa" in Durban, South Africa. The workshop is part of the New Generation Plantations Project managed by WWF in partnership with wide range of other stakeholders. The NGP provides a platform for stakeholders to discuss issues pertaining to plantations forestry. This year's workshop has drawn private sector and other stakeholders from across globe underpin opportunities and share lessons on plantation forestry and locally controlled forestry. Apart from TNRF, Tanzania is represented by participants from Green Resources and WWF - Tanzania.

This week from 6^th to 10^th May 2013, TNRF has organized training on pastoralism and rangeland production systems to representatives from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Local Government Authorities (LGAs) and local communities in Babati district. This training is part of the Pastoralist Program implemented jointly by CARE and TNRF. The training is aiming to equip sub-grantees under the programme, pastoral CSOs and local governments' authorities with skills to effectively implement the pastoral development projects.  The training intends to realize the following objectives:

• To enable participants from implementing CSOs, LGAs and local leaders to define and internalize concept of pastoralism for better management of resources and livelihood.
• To equip participants with knowledge and skills on pastoral systems, policy analysis and advocacy.
• To familiarize participants with approaches and steps to follow when doing policy analysis and evidence-based advocacy at the local level.  
• To enable the organizations in the training practice, integrating and accommodate pastoral systems into natural resources management initiatives in their respective localities for betterment of pastoral livelihoods.
• To enable participants understand the challenges in the pastoral livelihoods systems in Tanzania.

On Thursday, May 30th, 2013, USAID aims to hold an online High-Level Roundtable to share the results from a 4-year CBNRM stocktaking process and to discuss the potential for integrating CBNRM into national development strategies, plans, and policies in Southern Africa as an integrated approach to development. 

On 25^th March 2013, TNRF in collaboration with TMF conducted training to journalists with an aim of educating on the status of land, investment laws and policies in Tanzania so that they are conversant and can cover issues with authority. The training also covered on the component of investigative journalism.

Today is the first United Nations designated International Day of Forests. While TNRF and our partners celebrate and honor the importance of forests everyday - with our work and programs targeted at improving forest governance - we would like to acknowledge this day as an important international event. We spoke with our forest officers to hear what they have to say about the importance of forests:

Cassian Sianga, TNRF Senior Forestry Officer - "One of the key issues is that more that 90% of the population in our country depends heavily on forests for their livelihoods. There is every reason for professionals to assist communities get maximum benefits from these forests in a sustainable way. This should be done in a manner that will reduce the rate of degradation. The demand for forest resources is continuously increasing and dependency on them is also increasing because communities have limited alternatives.

It is high time therefore, for civil societies to empower communities in the management and utilization of these resources through Policies, Acts and Guidelines. Civil societies have a role to play here as government alone cannot do it. Let us commit ourselves to work with the rural communities as most of the civil society organizations in forestry are working in the rural areas." 

Gwamaka Mwakyanjala, Mama Misitu Campaign Manager - "Empowering local communities and their institutions is key to combating illegal harvesting of forest resources in Tanzania.... Citizens should be facilitated to manage forestry resources for the current and future benefits."

From March 25^th - 29^th 2013, TNRF will hold training in Dodoma on Pastoralism and rangeland production systems for CSOs, LGAs and local leaders that are implementing the Sustainable Rangeland Management Project (SRMP). This project is being implemented by five key partners, including CARE Tanzania, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), International land Coalition (ILC), TNRF, and the Ministry of Livestock Development Fisheries. SRMP was designed as a pilot project to facilitate the development of and demonstrate improved approaches for Village Land Use Planning and management in rangelands in Tanzania.  In addition, the project aims to secure land and resource rights of pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and crop farmers and improve land management by supporting village and district land use planning and rangeland management in Kiteto, Bahi, Chamwino and Kondoa Districts in Tanzania. More broadly it aims to influence policy formulation and implementation on these issues.  

This training will engage 32  participants; Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries (MoLFD), Regional Livestock Advisors (RLAs) from Dodoma & Manyara Regions, District Officials (4SRMP Coordinators), CARE-Tanzania, District Chairpersons and Ward Councilors from implementing Districts, implementing CSOs (DONET, MMC, KINNAPA, BAENET) and 2 Village Chairpersons from Lahoda and Ngabollo.

Over the years, debates and discussions on the state of the forestry sector in Tanzania have been ongoing. This has led to an agreement amongst Civil Society that the biggest challenge facing forestry sector at all levels is related to governance of these resources.

The Forest Governance Learning Group (coordinated by TNRF) hosted an event in Dar es Salaam entitled, " A Hearing: The State of Forest Governance in Tanzania - from a Citizen's perspective."  This event gave space to Tanzanian citizens to share their experiences with and concerns about forest governance practices in their communities. Individuals from four Mama Misitu Campaign project areas of Dar es Salaam, Coast, Lindi and Mtwara Regions are providing testimonies about governance issues, law enforcement challenges, and also about success stories on forest governance. There was a panel of experts listening to the stories and provided their reactions and recommendations for moving forward.