ABSTRACT
The miombo woodlands of Africa cover over 2.7 million km2 and are among the largest dry deciduous forests in the world. In Tanzania, dry forests of the miombo type cover about 390,000km2 (Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, 1998). In the last two decades these forests have been threatened by frequent fires and uncontrolled human utilization (Campbell, 1996) leading to their current state of high degradation. Most degradation follows slash and burn activities where trees are cut down for fuelwood and charcoal, and the fallow land is used for subsistence farming. Subsequently the exposed ground is vulnerable to soil erosion and invasion by pioneer species.
