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.

Today, the Forest Governance Learning Group (coordinated by TNRF) is hosting an event in Dar es Salaam entitled, ” A Hearing: The State of Forest Governance in Tanzania – from a Citizen’s perspective.” This event gives 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 is a panel of experts listening to the stories and providing their reactions and recommendations for moving forward.

“It is imperative that local communities in the drylands and other vulnerable areas are assisted to build their resilience and enhance their adaptive capacities,” said Richard Muyungi, Assistant Director of the Vice President’s Office – EIA and Climate Change. Mr. Muyungi was addressing conference participants at the TNRF and IIED hosted event entitled, “Planning for climate resilient growth in Tanzania’s drylands.” The conference marked the end of a one year preparatory phase for a new programme to mainstream climate change adaptation into local and national government planning in Tanzania’s drylands. Gathering a diverse group of stakeholders together – such as participants from TAMISEMI; the Tanzanian Meteorological Agency; district and local government authority officials from Longido, Monduli and Ngorongoro; as well as experts and community representatives – it shared experiences and lessons from this first phase and plans for phase two.

The African Development Bank invited TNRF to serve as a panelist in a seminar aimed at strategizing and defining a way forward for effective engagement between the Bank and civil society organizations (CSOs). Specifically, TNRF was asked to share experiences and strategies on how the Bank can operationalize the framework with CSOs at project level. TNRF’s Head of Programmes, Geofrey Mwanjela, served on a panel with other CSOs from across Africa (Ghana, Kenya, Benin, Cameroon, Tunis, South Africa), and participated in discussions that ranged from issues of natural resources, human rights, gender, and education to agriculture. The Bank’s senior staff, including the first Vice President, participated in the discussions.