Villagers destroy 90 hectares of Mkindu Forest Reserve
Forest biodiversity officer with Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG) Justine Gwegime (Centre) briefs natural resources committee leaders at Makate Village in Mvomero District, Morogoro Region, recently. PHOTO|LILIAN LUCAS
What you need to know:
Residents of 20 villages surrounding the forest are felling trees to grow maize, yams and beans, and to get firewood and charcoal.
Mvomero. Human activities encroaching on Mkindu Forest Rrserve have destroyed about 90 hectares of the natureal resource, an expert has said.
Residents of 20 villages surrounding the forest are felling trees to grow maize, yams and beans, and to get firewood and charcoal.
The deforestation is putting at risk lives of hundreds of the villagers who depend on the catchment area in the forest as their main source of water.
The forest reserve situated within Nguru South mountains, which covers about 23,600 hectares, was established in 1954 due to its catchment that supplies water to surrounding villages and the larger Wami catchment area. It consists of miombo woodland and lowland forests.
A Forest Biodiversity Officer from Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG) Justine Gwegime, revealed the destruction when addressing the natural resources committee leaders at Makate Village in the district.
Mr Gwagime said a 20-year survey by the TFCG had establish that the forest was losing its natural vegetation cover at an alarming rate.
He said some residents, who continued carrying out their activities in the forest unabated, were hampering efforts by the village natural resource committee formed to reverse the trend. “The surrounding villages should have land use plans each and stop residents from turning the forest into farms,” he said.
Villagers had all along been complaining over shortage of rains, unaware that the unreliable rain patterns were directly linked to the destruction of the forest,” said Mr Gwegime, promising to educate them on the dangers of destroying the natural resource. He said 12.5 hectares of the forest had been cleared for farming at Makate Village alone.
A forest officer with the Tanzania Forest Services Agency (TFS), Mr Frank Gumbo, said disobedience to laws and regulations was hindering efforts to conserve the forest.
Night invasion had been outsmarting leaders of the Natural Resources, Forest, and Environment Committee in the village, he said.
Makate Village chairman Lucas Malishari said they also lacked patrol vehicles and basic equipment such as torches, hard jackets, and boots they needed for patrolling the forest round the clock.
