Special Tanzania

TANZANIA HAS LOTS OF FOREST, BUT NOT MUCH WOOD

ILLEGAL CUTTING REMAINS A THREAT, BUT THE ‘CAVALRY’ IS COMING

Some initiatives are emerging here and there to safeguard the forests in Tanzania from complete disintegration. Indeed, as is the case in so many places, large areas of forest have been cut for years in order to create extra land for farming or to extract wood for the production of charcoal, the most important household source of energy for families. Tanzania has been a poor country for years and remains poor for the time being. Yet the country has loads of natural resources in the ground, the harvest of which is not shared. In the context of forest management lots of organisations have sprung into action. Let’s hope that the cavalry, for once, doesn’t arrive late.

Geography Tanzania borders on Kenya (769km) and Uganda (396km) in the north, Mozambique (756km), Malawi (475km), and Zambia (338km) to the south, and Congo (459km), Rwanda (217km), and Burundi (451km) in the west. Tanzania borders entirely on the Indian Ocean to the east and the other borders also consist largely of water: Lake Tanganyika in the west, Lake Victoria in the north-west, and Lake Malawi in the south-west, whilst the border with Mozambique comprises the River Rovuma. Tanzania has a total surface area of 945,087km² and that makes it 22.5 times bigger than the Netherlands and equally as big as France, Germany, and Belgium together. It is also the biggest country in East Africa. The longest distance from north to south (Moshi-Songea) is over 1300 kilometres and from east to west (Dar es Salaam-Kigoma) over 1600 kilometres.

Economic development Until the end of the 1970s, Tanzania was a shining example of a developing country, partly due to large amounts of development aid from abroad. However, early in the 1980s, economic decline set in as a result of price depressions on the world market for major export products such as coffee and cotton and with an underdeveloped transport and communication sector as the main cause. In 1986, the country signed a reform agreement with the IMF and the World Bank, in which the agricultural sector had to act as the base and driving force for development in other sectors. The liberalisation of the economy was set in motion and foreign investment was encouraged. However, development is still running extremely slowly.

The nineties In the late 1990s, the economy took a turn for the worse following a sharp drop in exports. In 1999, the IMF granted Tanzania the status of Heavily Indebted Poor Country. That led to a remission of foreign debt. The economy is extremely vulnerable because it depends for a quarter on the farming sector. 80% of the working population operates in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, cattle breeding, and fisheries. Heavy rainfall or extreme drought result in severely diminished production which once again weakens economic growth. In the East African Development Strategy Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda have agreed that a customs union and a common market will be established.

A poverty-stricken country Tanzania is currently one of the poorest countries in the world and a fifth of the population lives below the poverty line. The majority of the poor are in the countryside, but the number of poor people in the towns and cities is also growing rapidly. It is estimated that only about half of the population has access to pure drinking water, whilst diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhoea, and infections are very common. Moreover, the high mortality is further adversely affected by aids; it is estimated that almost 10% of the population is seropositive, especially in the age group between 15 and 49. In recent years, the economy has grown on average by 6-7% per annum (2017). The GDP per head of population is $3,200 (2017).

Major sectors Agriculture The farming sector contributes about 23.4% to the GDP (2017) and provides employment for 66.9% of the working population. Apart from self-sufficiency, this sector also makes a big contribution to the export income. Most farmers have a plot of land of no more than two hectares. The major farming areas are the coastal plain, the areas with volcanic soil in the north around Tanga, Moshi, and Arusha. Then, there is also the area around Lake Victoria and the south-west.

Mining Mineral mining is in the hands of the State Mining Corporation, but it doesn’t yet contribute very much to the GDP, even though it is one of the fastest growing sectors in the Tanzanian economy. The soil in Tanzania contains a lot of minerals, including coal, iron ore, diamond, gold, Tanzanite, salt, gypsum nickel, and cobalt. Recently, companies from western countries have invested heavily in the mining sector. For instance, the great gold mine of Bulyanhulu is in Canadian hands and a large portion of the profit disappears abroad. And so, the local communities get very little benefit and that has regularly led to riots and even bloody confrontations.

Industry In 2017, the industrial sector accounted for 28.6% of the GDP. Industry is occupied primarily with the processing of agricultural products and is concentrated in Dar es Salaam, Moshi, Tanga, Arusha, Mwanza, Morogoro, and Dodoma. Furthermore, the country also has an oil and petroleum refinery and cement, fertiliser, tobacco, paper, and textile factories.

Export The government has interfered heavily in foreign trade in the past. And so, it was not until 1996 that the import and export restrictions which had been in force until then were lifted. Although the trade deficit is gradually diminishing, in 2017 it was still almost three billion dollars. The following items are exported: coffee, cotton, cloves, tea, tobacco, cashew nuts, gold, diamond, sisal, and products from the processing industry. The major buyers are India (especially cashew nuts) Kenya, China, South Africa, and the EU countries. The total value of export is five billion dollars.

Sustainable forest management is creeping in About 45% of the country (about 38.8 million hectares) is covered by forest, but this can be exploited in a commercially responsible manner only to a limited extent. Important wood sorts for export are ebony, mahogany, and sandalwood; by-products include bees wax, resin, and rubber. Since more and more land is being released for farming and the production of firewood and charcoal, deforestation is forming an increasingly big problem. The pressure being exerted on forests results in deforestation of an estimated 91,000 hectares per annum. In the agricultural sector soil degradation and erosion also constitute a major problem.

Projects bring relief Thankfully, on the initiative of various environmental organisations and NGOs, reforestation projects are being set up all over the country or alternatives are being created to the production of charcoal, so that illegal wood cutting can be reduced. An example is a project in the south where areas which cover more than 7,252 hectares (Uchindile) and 3,562 hectares (Mapanda) have been enriched with the planting of four sorts of trees: two sorts of eucalyptus and two sorts of pine. The eucalyptus and pine trees are harvested every 13 and 21 years respectively and the wood is used for telegraph poles, furniture, and pallets. The net growth of the forest biomass in the course of the harvest cycle is controlled by satellite images from the geographic information system (GIS), personnel on the ground, and local residents. Furthermore, a variety of exotic and native types of trees and local fruit sorts have been planted in order to increase diversity and also to benefit the health and resilience of the forest. The conservation of rare and threatened sorts of trees is an integral part of this project and the local communities are working together with the project developer to protect them.

Conclusion: Seeing that a lot of these projects have been set up, there is still hope for Tanzania.