Press Release: Mama Misitu Campaign Signs Funding Agreement with the Finnish Embassy

PRESS RELEASE

Government of Finland supports Forest Governance Campaign – Mama Misitu
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (July 15th, 2008)

The Government of Finland today signed an agreement worth Four Hundred Forty Thousand, Five Hundred Seventy Six Euros (€ 440,576) to support the pilot implementation phase of the ‘Mama Misitu’ campaign, an initiative that aims to improve forest governance in Tanzania.

The Mama Misitu Campaign is a powerful alliance of seventeen leading civil society organisations working in Tanzania that have agreed to tackle corruption and mismanagement in Tanzania’s forestry sector. The strength of this partnership reflects the importance with which this issue is perceived by many people in the country.

The campaign will focus on areas where illegal logging has been most destructive including Coast, Morogoro, Lindi, Tanga, Ruvuma and Mtwara Regions. The campaign will be working with people at all levels of society to ensure that forests are managed sustainably for the benefit of the present and future generations.

“As far as I know, the need is there, and once the people know that there is need, they will demand good governance in their forests, we can now hopefully change the attitude of our people in Tanzania,’ said His Excellency, Ambassador Juhani Toivonen, during the signing ceremony at the Finnish Embassy in Dar es Salaam. The signing ceremony involved Dr. Andrew Williams, TNRF Coordinator, on behalf of the Tanzania Forest Working Group and was witnessed by Dr. George Jambiya a member of the TNRF Steering Committee, the Finnish Embassy and the Mama Misitu staff.

The Mama Misitu Campaign shall begin with a one year pilot phase that aims to provide communities, government officers and the private sector with information about how forests are supposed to be managed according to Tanzanian and international policy. The campaign will focus on issues relating to timber harvest and village involvement in forest management.

During the signing ceremony, Mr. Gabriel Batulaine, Natural Resources Specialist from the Embassy of Finland observed that “This pilot phase is very important because it will pave the way for tackling governance issues in the country.”

The 17 founding partners in ‘Mama Misitu’ are Africare, CARE-Tanzania, Farm Africa, Femina HIP, Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), Lawyer’s Environmental Action Team , Mpingo Conservation Project, Policy Forum, Tanzania Association of Foresters, Tanzania Forest Conservation Group, Tanzania Natural Resources Forum, TRAFFIC, Wildlife Conservation Society, Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the WWF Tanzania Programme Office.

The initiative is facilitated by the Tanzania Natural Resources Forum and is financed by the Government of Finland.

For further information contact: Rehema Mtingwa
Communication and Campaign Manager
TNRF - Mama Misitu
Tel: 255 784 605 479
Email: r.mtingwa@tnrf.org