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TNRF Monthly Update -- September 2008

Posted September 27th, 2008 by Web Master

The news update for September 2008 includes partner developments, natural resource management news and TNRF developments. Click on the links in the following list to see more information.

 

Partner Development

Ujamaa Community Resource Trust has received the prestigious Equator Prize for its groundbreaking support for community-based natural resource management and rights. As one of 25 such organisations from around the world, the prize will be awarded at the World Conservation Forum in Barcelona, Spain in October 2008. UCRT was selected out of a list of hundreds of grassroots organizations working on sustainable development. Ujamaa Community Resource Trust works with communities in Ngorongoro, Arusha, Mbulu, Simanjiro and Hanang Districts. Go to the full article on the TNRF website here: http://www.tnrf.org/node/8220.

 

Natural Resource Management News

Wildlife Conservation Bill: The new Wildlife Conservation Bill will be tabled in Parliament in late October and early November for its first reading. TNRF will be working with its partners and members to support their engagement and follow-up with the Wildlife Conservation Bill as it passes through Parliament. Some members are already reviewing the bill and more will be forthcoming on this issue. To download the bill and read more, please click here: http://www.tnrf.org/node/8254.

Non-Consumptive Wildlife Use Regulations: Earlier this month the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism provided tourism companies with an amended schedule to the Wildlife Conservation Act Non-Consumptive Wildlife Use Regulations GN 196 of September 2007. The schedule is retroactive from 1st July 2008. The amended regulations follow a consultation meeting held earlier this year on 28-29th April with the Wildlife Division facilitated by TNRF and AWF, more details of which can be found here. Some of the key recommendations made at the consultation between dividing revenue collection between central government and Wildlife Management Areas or Local Government Authorities have not made it yet into the amended version of the schedule. However the fees have been lowered and slightly simplified.

Grazing Land and Feed Resources Bill: It is expected that the proposed Grazing Land and Feed Resources Bill will be tabled soon following over two years of development by the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries. The Pastoralism and Livelihoods Task Force (PLTF) is planning to engage in advocacy related to the bill. Already PLTF partners have developed of a series of research papers exploring options for pastoralist livelihoods in preparation for the policy advocacy work. A key concern is that forthcoming legislation provide a progressive framework for supporting pastoralist and agro-pastoralist livelihoods and rangeland management. Upcoming PLTF activities include publication of bi-lingual information briefs on policy issues affecting pastoralist livelihoods and rangeland management, as well as further related awareness raising and debate.

Mwambani Bay Port – Who benefits? Who loses? Some TNRF members have raised concerns over the economic rationale of the planned Mwambani Bay Port and its impact on local communities and the environment – particularly its impact on the future of a Marine Protected Area for the Coelacanth – a rare live ‘fossil fish’. The TNRF Secretariat will soon be sending an update on the Mwambani Bay Port issue to members via email, as requested by some of TNRF’s membership. Read a TNRF Member Viewpoint* on Mwambani Bay here: www.tnrf.org/node/7066.

*This Member Viewpoint is an example of how TNRF supports member driven concerns by linking members and partners. After receiving this Member Viewpoint on Mwambani Bay from a TNRF member, TNRF has since notified the Journalists' Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET), has made inquiries at the National Environmental Management Council (NEMC), and is continuing to support the follow-up of this issue with the members concerned.

A key role for TNRF is in the dissemination and sharing of information. Our website and email updates are a primary way of achieving this, and currently we are developing other options.

Please see an upcoming email about how to submit a Member Viewpoint - your way of expressing a view more formally for everyone to read and think about. Member Viewpoints are posted on the website and circulated via email updates.


TNRF Developments

The TNRF Annual General Meeting will take place on 10th October 2008 in Arusha at the Impala Hotel at 1:00pm. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is TNRF’s most important event! At the AGM the TNRF Secretariat reports to members on its programme of activities and financial status. Elections for the TNRF Steering Committee will be held and amendments to the constitution voted upon. A new draft Strategy for TNRF will be present to the Annual General Assembly for discussion and feedback. In addition, members are free to submit topics for debate in advance, and to table motions.

Students are encouraged to participate! TNRF can provide transport and other costs for a limited number of student members as communicated in an email to members sent on 15th September. The Secretariat is also collaborating with TNRF partners to assist community representatives to attend the meeting. Go to the full meeting announcement here: www.tnrf.org/groups/agm/notice

A big thank you to the Sigrid Rausing Trust: The Trust has renewed its annual GBP 15,000 grant to TNRF for a third year. The funds will be used to finalise and help implement a communications strategy (see below) to improve TNRF’s communications in direct response to member needs and feedback.

Independent Forest Monitoring moving forward: Funded by the Royal Danish Embassy, IFM is being facilitated through the Tanzania Forestry Working Group and it is expected that a Memorandum of Understanding will shortly be signed between TNRF and HTSPE-Tanzania. The Independent Forest Monitoring (IFM) programme is a response to growing national attention to shortfalls in Forest Law Enforcement and Governance as highlighted by a 2007 TRAFFIC report titled ‘Forestry, Governance and National Development: Lessons Learned from a Logging Boom in Southern Tanzania'. IFM is a key step in making significant improvements to forest management and governance. Approved by the Director of Forestry and Beekeeping, the initiative will be developed and carried out in close partnership with government, civil society organizations and the private sector.

Engaging with the up-coming Wildlife Conservation Bill: TNRF has developed a comprehensive set of eight bi-lingual information briefs on the wildlife sector in Tanzania in order to provide a balanced view of wildlife policy issues and to serve as a key information resource for members engaging with the Wildlife Bill as it moves through Parliament. Based on the latest published information available on wildlife populations and financial performance within the sector, the Wildlife Briefs explore why Tanzania’s wildlife is in steep decline, what is going wrong, and how the wildlife sector could contribute much more effectively to wealth creation for rural communities and the nation. Government representatives, civil society and private sector (including hunting and photographic tour operations) have provided feedback on the briefs and their comments are now being finalised. The Information briefs will be released by mid-October as a presentational pack and will be made available on the TNRF website.

For more resources on wildlife policy on the TNRF website, please go to:

Biofuels – IIED to support the Tanzania Forestry Working Group in an applied research study: The International Institute for Environment and Development (UK) is to collaborate with the Tanzania Forestry Working Group in carrying out an applied research study on biofuels, particularly to document how the spread of biofuels is affecting land access for poorer groups, what actions are being taken (successfully and unsuccessfully) to secure land access and what impact commercial biofuels are having on the country’s forest resource-base. A further objective is to review and better understand the different types of business models for biofuels that can develop positive outcomes for sustainable rural development. It is envisaged that the findings of the study will be used to feed into the national policy development process for biofuels in Tanzania. Link to the Tanzania Forestry Working Group’s information page on biofuels here: http://www.tnrf.org/taxonomy/term/123

Developing a communications strategy: During August, a cross-section of TNRF’s partners and members were consulted as part of developing a Communications Strategy. The Communications Strategy will be used to help improve TNRF’s corporate communications, member services, networking and information sharing. The upcoming TNRF Communications Strategy also includes increased communications support for the growing number of TNRF Working Groups, and development of ‘Maajabu’ (http://www.tnrf.org/groups/maajabu) as a film unit making participatory films in support of improved governance and natural resource management. We see film as an innovative way of achieving greater member outreach especially with communities, schools and institutions of higher learning. In addition, we are working to enhance our dissemination of information through email, web and print media. We will restart regular round-table meetings on current issues in collaboration with partners! The Communications Strategy will also incorporate feedback from TNRF’s members at the Annual General Meeting.