ABSTRACT
The Tanzania mainland has forest resources covering about 38.8 million hectares, 41 per cent of Tanzania’s 94.5 106ha land area (United Republic of Tanzania, 2007a). Less than 2 per cent comprises tropical high forest or other closed forest cover, and the bulk is open woodland of the miombo type, dominated by Brachystegia spp. About 80,000ha is under industrial pine, cypress and teak government plantations, important for sustainable production of industrial round wood, and there are 25,000ha (United Republic of Tanzania, 2001) of Tectona grandis L.f., Acacia mearnsii De Wild, pines and eucalyptus plantations owned by three private companies – the Kilombero Valley Teak Company (KVTC), Tanganyika Wattle Company (TANWATT) and Forest Escarpment Company (FES). About 13 × 106ha (34 per cent) of the total forest area is gazetted as forest reserves, of which 1.6 × 106ha are under natural forests for water catchment protection and conservation of biodiversity. In addition, 23.8 × 106ha (61 per cent) of the forest and woodland are unreserved, and 2 × 106ha (5 per cent) are in national parks (United Republic of Tanzania, 2007a). Most unreserved forest occurs on, or adjacent to, village lands, for which village councils are legally the land and forest managers (United Republic of Tanzania, 2001). Often, however, the treating of these forests as open-access resources results in severe deforestation and degradation (Luoga et al, 2000; United Republic of Tanzania, 2001). Figure 4.1 shows key locations in Tanzania referred to in this chapter. Map of Tanzania https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781849776400/a7e02f31-66af-46ee-a8e2-356b55628f0d/content/fig4_1_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
