Independent Forest Monitoring

Following the release of the TRAFFIC report on illegal logging in Tanzania in May 2007, TNRF has secured funding from the Royal Danish Government for designing a programme on Independent Forest Monitoring (IFM). TNRF is acting as the facilitating agent for the design process on behalf of the Tanzania Forest Working Group and in close liaison with the Director of Forestry and Beekeeping.

The objective of the IFM programme is to establish a functioning, broad-based and legitimate IFM process in Tanzania that contributes to good governance, effective forest management and national development with the buy-in of government, civil society, local communities and the private sector.

The Tanzania Natural Resource Forum and the Royal Danish Embassy have signed an agreement for a local grant of DKr 5 million (equivalent to TZS 1.1 billion) to support the development and implementation of Independent Forest Monitoring in Tanzania. This new initiative follows the release in May of this year of a report ‘Forestry, Governance and National Development: Lessons Learned from a Logging Boom in Southern Tanzania', developed by TRAFFIC in partnership with the government and the Development Partners' Group.