Tanzania’s MJUMITA earns WWF award

MJUMITA has been rewarded with WWF Sweden´s annual environmental prize, Jihde award.

The award signed by Hakan Wirten – Secretary General, WWF Sweden has been presented to Rahima Njaidi on behalf of MJUMITA on March 20th 2014 in Dar es Salaam by her Royal Highness Victoria, the crown Princes of Sweden.

The Jihde Award from "Elisabeth Jihde´s Memorial Fund" was founded in 1999 for rewarding important conservation efforts in memory of Elisabeth Jihde, a Swedish woman deeply involved in nature conservation in Africa.

“The 2014 Jihde prize is awarded to the network organization MJUMITA for their uniting and creative work that has developed participatory community forest management groups.

Today, MJUMITA is recognized by decision makers as bearers of knowledge, innovators and as a respected voice advocating the importance of community based natural resource management in Tanzanian society says Bell’Aube Houinato, Country Director, WWF- Tanzania.

"Thank you your Royal Highness for this award. It really is an honour to be here and to receive it. I like to take this opportunity to thank you for acknowledging our efforts in making a difference in the forest sector for the benefit of the communities. We take this award as a challenge to make us work harder to enable the communities benefit from these valuable resources, says Rahima Njaidi, Executive Director of MJUMITA.

MJUMITA is a community forest network of community groups involved in Participatory Forest Management (PFM) in Tanzania. The network provides a forum for capacity building, advocacy and communication for these groups. MJUMITA currently has 110 affiliated local area networks (also known as CBOs), in 13 regions, 30 districts and 452 villages involved in participatory forest management countrywide. The total number of MJUMITA members is more than 10,000 communities. MJUMITA members are managing more than 1,880,500 hectors of forest both under Community Based Forest Management-CBFM and Joint Forest Management -JFM.

WWF TANZANIA - REGIONAL REDD SCENARIO BUILDING

PRESS RELEASE - REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON LAND USE AND COVER CHANGE SCENARIOS IN LAKE ZONE

1.0: Introduction

WWF Tanzania through REDD+ Pilot project has planned a series of regional workshop on land use/cover changes scenarios in six zones of Tanzania. Land use/cover change is one of the main drivers of environmental change in the lake zone. Therefore understanding pattern of land use changes with its associated drivers are necessary step towards formulating appropriate policies for sustainable development.

REDD+ Project team is conducting regional scenario workshop in Mwanza for Lake Zone starting on 20^th to 22^nd March, 2014. The Lake zone comprises five regions namely Mwanza, Mara, Simiyu, Geita and Kagera.

The workshop brings together different stakeholders from various institutions including Central and Local government, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Private sectors, Cooperative society and Government agencies. It is important to have wide representatives of different stakeholders because

The main purpose of the workshop is to determine possible future land use and cover changes for year 2025 based on business as usual and green economy scenarios through involvement of different stakeholders from Lake Zone. Results from the workshop in combination with socio-economic data are important for generating maps of potential future land use/cover.

The two scenarios represent two possible evolution of current situation in Tanzania. In the Business as Usual scenario, current trends are projected over the next 10 years, there is increasing competition among different land uses and economic growth is pursued without taking into account neither social nor environmental sustainability. In particular this means: 1) population growth will continue at the rate (2.7% per year); 2) small scale agriculture will remain the first source of income for the majority of the population, with low productivity due to lack of technology improvement and relevant capacity building, and so there is an increase in demand for new land to be converted to agricultural uses; 3) at the same time there is an increasing amount of land leased to foreigner investors for commercial agriculture;  4) biomass (charcoal and fuel wood) remains the main source of energy for the growing population (particularly for the main city of Dar es Salaam); 4) schemes for supporting sustainable management of forest and safeguard of biodiversity and ecosystem services fail to be implemented (including REDD+); therefore deforestation and impact on biodiversity, soil and water increase.

In the Green Economy scenario, environmental concerns including deforestation and Carbon emissions are integrated at different levels in national and subnational policies, strategies and interventions, so to optimize the trade-off between socio-economic development and sustainable use of resources. In particular this means: 1) population continues to growth but  2) there is an increase of agriculture productivity thanks to technology and know-how improvement, and so less demand for new land; 3) biomass remains the main source of energy for cooking, but alternative energy sources are developed; 4) schemes for supporting sustainable management of forest and safeguard of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and for reducing the drivers of deforestation and Carbon emissions are succesfully implemented (including REDD+).

Specific objectives

1.      To identify main sectors affecting land use and cover change

2.      To assess the current situation of main sectors focusing on Economy and Environmental aspects and trajectories into two different scenarios ( Business as Usual (BAU) and Green Economy) for year 2025.

3.      To identify drivers/factors for possible land use changes

4.      To determine possibility of change in each identified land use/cover existing in southern zone.

2: Relevance of land use/cover change map

It is anticipated that developed maps of land use/cover change under business as usual and green economy scenarios would enable policy maker to see possible future impact of land use changes on natural resource management, in particular on ecosystem services (e.g. carbon sequestration and biodiversity). Consequently, the outcome of this project can be used as a tool to analyse the impacts of different possible policies and interventions, and then to review existing policy and investment regulations to attain sustainable development.

Smart plane: state-of-the-art technology for wildlife conservation and protection

Understanding needs and efforts made by the Government to combat poaching, the use of sophisticated tracking and monitoring equipment such as Smart Plane is among the proactive techniques to improve protection of wildlife.  

In addressing the current challenges in poaching and illegal wildlife trade, there have been a lot of investments and strategies by the Government and stakeholders to address challenges on poaching. Several initiatives have been put in place including training of Village Game Scouts (VGS), camera traps and a lot of money invested, but poaching continues.  Therefore, adoption of new technology using smart plane for law enforcement is inevitable. Smart plane undertakes rapid assessment and helps to strategize surveillances and anti-poaching patrols in difficult terrains.

The Smart Plane is a flying machine, designed specifically for aerial photography. Performance is characterized by relatively neutral stability and a relatively high speed range, allowing low speed and low drag at a cruising speed.

The aircraft is easily taken apart without tools for easy transport and storage. The design is very robust with the camera well protected in the middle of the plane. Design and materials are selected to allow repairs in the field. It is equipped with a very compact and lightweight autopilot. Despite the small size, it is most advanced and capable of conducting all phases of flight from take-off to landing. The autopilot also manages the camera exposure, communication with the ground control station and the radio control transmitter. The autopilot uses inputs from GPS and other systems to stabilize and navigate the aircraft. GPS provides information about the position, altitude and velocity.

In adopting the high tech investment stakeholders will only require investments in human resource and capital for the investments.  

WWF REGIONAL ENERGY STRATEGY – ACHIEVING 100% RENEWABLE ENERGY BY 2050 IN TANZANIA

WWF ESARPO has set for the region an ambitious Vision 2050 of  ‘a future powered by 100% renewable energy to meet all human development needs in East and Southern Africa through means that ensure humans live in harmony with nature’. WWF Offices within the East and Southern Africa Regional Programme Office believe that in order to live in harmony with nature, the six nations within this region must ensure access to clean, affordable and modern energy service for all. Without this ‘vision’, countries will not create lasting benefits. The ESARPO Regional Energy Coordinator – Robert Ddamulira is confident that countries in the region can achieve such a future.

The launching of the ESARPO Energy strategy in 2013 comes in amid the current global concern and as reported in the ‘Living Planet Report of 2012 – the road to Rio+20. The demand for food, water and energy on which our lives depends, has significantly increased, and the projection from 1966 estimates that we are using about 1.5 planets to support our activities.

The WWF Regional Energy Strategy has six strategic objects relating to: 1) Policy, legal and institutional frameworks, 2) Access to energy, 3) Sustainable energy development, 4) Renewable energy solutions, 5) Financial mechanisms, and 6) Low carbon development.

Tanzania as a country within the ESARPO region, has started to some extent with initial engagement and implementation of strategic objective one and five. The biofuel project which is jointly implemented between TCO and HAKIARDHI (a land rights civil society) has resulted into a national policy dialogue towards development of a sustainable biofuels policy. 

Piloting of the sustainable charcoal production and teaming up with CAMCO as energy experts and TanCarbon for carbon financing demonstrates innovative approaches for viable financing of renewable  energy investments for both demand and supply sides. Partners like CAMCO and TaTEDO are promoting solar installations (as shown in photo 1) for the rural poor and urban dwellers who can now access renewable energy technologies that in turn support WWF’s vision on 100% renewable energy in the region. Solar technologies are picking up in the villages and can be purchased for as low as between USD $ 20

There are opportunities for further engagement between WWF TCO and national civil society organizations and other non-state actors in the renewable energy sector through relevant networks, alliances and forums. Furthermore by taking advantage of public-private-partnership approaches backed up by the government through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism (MNRT) and Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM), WWF TCO sees opportunities for contributing towards the 100% renewable energy in the region come 2050

Acacia mangium - Fast growing trees for charcoal production

With 2 years, one can harvest a 5 metre pole for any intended use with Acacia mangium. On the photo above, are acacia mangium which were planted in March 2010 for charcoal production in Bumba msolo village, Rufiji Tanzania. Acacia mangium are one of the fast growing tree species to replace tree which were cut for unsustainable charcoal production in the landscape.