Mama Misitu: A campaign to improve forest governance

Official launching of the Mama Misitu Campaign was done on 31st July 2012 at Karimjee hall in Dar es Salaam. The campaign was officially launched by the RCoast Regional Commissioner Hon.Ms Mwantumu Mahiza on behalf of the Minister for Natural Resources and Toursim.  In her comments, the regional commissioner called upon harmonization of sectoral policies, like Kilimo Kwanza and Participatory forest management. 


The partners for the campaign are responsible for different aspects of the campaign, each according to their expertise, geographical location and area of interest.  These are  MCDI in Kilwa, WWF in Rufiji, TFCG in Kibaha, WCST in Kisarawe,  other partners have thematic strengths LEAT which works nation-wide and has a legal focus,  Femina-HIP and JET have expertise in campaign material. 

Mama Misitu campaign is a communications campaign aiming to improve the governance of Tanzania’s forests and reduce illegal forest harvesting, so that the people of Tanzania can increasingly benefit from sustainably managed forests

The campaign comes in as a result of TRAFFIC report indentified that in the Miombo and coastal forests of southern Tanzania, there was rising on international demand for timber which was driving intense illegal harvesting. This led to a large-scale degradation of those forests. The degradation of these and other forests in Tanzania represents an ecological and economic loss to the communities that rely on forest resources and the national government.