Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests of Tanzania and Kenya ...
Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests of Tanzania and Kenya ... Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests of Tanzania and Kenya ...
ushmeat trade threatens the smaller mammals. Although this trade is not on the scale found inWest and Central Africa, local consumption of game meat can threaten rare wildlife. Forexample, the endangered Aders’ duiker has been reduced to very low population levels by localhunters in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, (FitzGibbon et al. 1995; Kanga 1996) and also in JozaniForest in Zanzibar (Struhsaker & Siex, pers. comm.).MiningMining within forests is currently a minor threat, but (as noted earlier) this may change: largereserves of titanium have been discovered on Kenya’s coast, from Kwale to Malindi District andunderneath Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. Tiomin Resources Inc. plans to strip mine four areas incoastal Kenya, starting with an area of 64 km 2 in Kwale District, which will be mined for at least14 years. All vegetation and physical structures will be removed and mineral deposits will beexposed to a depth of more than 30 m. Tiomin has promised to compensate the originallandowners and to rehabilitate and return the land to them, but agreement has not yet beenreached on its operations. There is considerable public concern about environmental impacts andthe distribution of economic benefits, and the new Kenyan government appears to be taking astricter line with Tiomin on these issues (Reuters 2003).FiresFires are commonly used by rural farmers to clear fields prior to planting. Where populationdensities are high, vegetation from the fields to be farmed that season is cleared into piles andburned on the site. In general, few of these fires spread into forest margins or montanegrasslands. Within the forests, fires are started for forest clearance for cultivation and these canget out of control and burn larger areas. Sometimes, wild honey harvesters start forest fires whenthey smoke the bees to get their honey. Fires are sometimes started deliberately for politicalreasons (e.g. in UMNP in 2000 during the election). Where human population density is lower,there is a much higher tendency for the slopes of Eastern Arc Mountains to be subject towildfires that can have a number of causes and once started will spread up the slope in anuncontrolled fashion. Occasionally, these fires reach the forests and during dry years they canenter the forest and cause considerable damage. They also burn huge areas of upland grass in theEastern Arc Mountains.43
Ranking of Threats in TanzaniaBecause of the different ways in which threats have been identified and analyzed in differentportions of the hotspot, it is difficult to include all the data in an overall ranking of threats in thehotspot. The most compatible datasets come from site-by-site analyses of threats for 114 sites inthe Tanzanian Coastal Forests (WWF-EARPO 2002) and for 136 sites in the Tanzanian EasternArc Mountains (data from Neil Burgess). Figure 5 summarizes this data in ranked form for thetop 10 threats common to both datasets.The top 10 overall threats (in ranked order) are agriculture and encroachment, fire, timberextraction, polewood cutting, population growth, charcoal production, grazing, hunting, miningand roads. Population growth was included as a threat in both datasets, although it may be betterconsidered as an ultimate factor, driving the other proximate threats. Two additional threats wereidentified only for the Eastern Arc Mountains Forests (corruption and medicinal plants) andanother seven only for the Coastal Forests (settlement, urbanisation, fuelwood, carving wood,salt, tourism and open access). Of these additional threats, three (carving wood, salt and tourism)may be genuinely restricted to the coastal forests. The apparent restriction of the other additionalthreats to either the Coastal Forests or the Eastern Arc Mountains is almost certainly an artefactof the different analyses used. For example, corruption and fuelwood extraction are a problem inboth ecoregions.Despite these problems and the exclusion of the Kenyan data, Figure 5 provides a reasonablepicture of the relative importance of the overall threats in the hotspot.Figure 5. Ranking of threats in the Eastern Arc Mountains (136 forests) and Coastal Forests (108forests)20Threat Score181614121086420E. Arc ForestsCoastal ForestsMiningRoadsHuntingGrazingCharcoalPopulationPolewoodTimberFireAgr / EncThreat44
- Page 1 and 2: Eastern Arc Mountainsand Coastal Fo
- Page 3 and 4: CEPF FACT SHEETEastern Arc Mountain
- Page 5 and 6: ECOSYSTEM PROFILEEASTERN ARC MOUNTA
- Page 7 and 8: CONTENTSINTRODUCTION...............
- Page 9 and 10: BACKGROUNDInternational interest in
- Page 11 and 12: In terms of plant biogeography, the
- Page 13 and 14: Mountains are all taken from Newmar
- Page 15 and 16: The degree of faunal endemism in th
- Page 17 and 18: The largest of the Kenyan forest re
- Page 19 and 20: percent) of the Kenyan coastal fore
- Page 21 and 22: corridor outcomes are being defined
- Page 23 and 24: nine globally threatened species an
- Page 25 and 26: Table 3. Numbers of sites with Crit
- Page 27 and 28: Figure 1 (continued)*Site # Site Na
- Page 29 and 30: Government Institutional Framework
- Page 31 and 32: Nongovernmental OrganizationsEast A
- Page 33 and 34: 4. Support the government policy of
- Page 35 and 36: Box 1 National Forest Policy goal a
- Page 37 and 38: (d) Forestry Based Industries and P
- Page 39 and 40: Other coastal mineral resources of
- Page 41 and 42: The major social trend in both coun
- Page 43 and 44: Table 3. Major threats in the Easte
- Page 45: Commercial Timber ExtractionThere h
- Page 49 and 50: • Decision-makers inadequately in
- Page 51 and 52: long-term funding and institutional
- Page 53 and 54: years due to a lack of funding. Oth
- Page 55 and 56: GEF-UNDP or GTZ support, as did the
- Page 57 and 58: During the group and plenary discus
- Page 59 and 60: concentrate on synergistic and dire
- Page 61 and 62: 2. Restore and increase connectivit
- Page 63 and 64: compiling lists of species and asse
- Page 65 and 66: CEPF will support efforts to raise
- Page 67 and 68: ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE TEXTACCAW
- Page 69 and 70: REFERENCESAxelrod, D.I. & P.H. Rave
- Page 71 and 72: Kesley, M. G. & T. E. S. Langton. 1
- Page 73 and 74: patterns, diversity and endemism. B
- Page 75 and 76: Taphozous hildegardeae + x xBirds 3
- Page 77 and 78: Baphia macrocalyx +Baphia pauloi +B
- Page 79 and 80: Kotschya platyphylla +Kraussia spec
- Page 81 and 82: Sibangea pleioneura +Sorindeia cala
- Page 83 and 84: Kaya Jibana KE 1 7 8 8Kaya Rabai KE
- Page 85 and 86: Pangani (Hale-Makinjumbe) TZ 1 1 1P
- Page 87 and 88: Buxus obtusifolia VU PCroton jatrop
- Page 89 and 90: Kraussia speciosa VU PMkilua fragra
- Page 91 and 92: Mesogyne insignis VU PMildbraedia c
- Page 93 and 94: Synsepalumsubverticillatum VU PTare
- Page 95 and 96: Kaya Muhaka KE 4.33 39.53Vitellario
ushmeat trade threatens the smaller mammals. Although this trade is not on the scale found inWest <strong>and</strong> Central Africa, local consumption <strong>of</strong> game meat can threaten rare wildlife. Forexample, the endangered Aders’ duiker has been reduced to very low population levels by localhunters in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, (FitzGibbon et al. 1995; Kanga 1996) <strong>and</strong> also in JozaniForest in Zanzibar (Struhsaker & Siex, pers. comm.).MiningMining within forests is currently a minor threat, but (as noted earlier) this may change: largereserves <strong>of</strong> titanium have been discovered on <strong>Kenya</strong>’s coast, from Kwale to Malindi District <strong>and</strong>underneath Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. Tiomin Resources Inc. plans to strip mine four areas incoastal <strong>Kenya</strong>, starting with an area <strong>of</strong> 64 km 2 in Kwale District, which will be mined for at least14 years. All vegetation <strong>and</strong> physical structures will be removed <strong>and</strong> mineral deposits will beexposed to a depth <strong>of</strong> more than 30 m. Tiomin has promised to compensate the originall<strong>and</strong>owners <strong>and</strong> to rehabilitate <strong>and</strong> return the l<strong>and</strong> to them, but agreement has not yet beenreached on its operations. There is considerable public concern about environmental impacts <strong>and</strong>the distribution <strong>of</strong> economic benefits, <strong>and</strong> the new <strong>Kenya</strong>n government appears to be taking astricter line with Tiomin on these issues (Reuters 2003).FiresFires are commonly used by rural farmers to clear fields prior to planting. Where populationdensities are high, vegetation from the fields to be farmed that season is cleared into piles <strong>and</strong>burned on the site. In general, few <strong>of</strong> these fires spread into forest margins or montanegrassl<strong>and</strong>s. Within the forests, fires are started for forest clearance for cultivation <strong>and</strong> these canget out <strong>of</strong> control <strong>and</strong> burn larger areas. Sometimes, wild honey harvesters start forest fires whenthey smoke the bees to get their honey. Fires are sometimes started deliberately for politicalreasons (e.g. in UMNP in 2000 during the election). Where human population density is lower,there is a much higher tendency for the slopes <strong>of</strong> <strong>Eastern</strong> <strong>Arc</strong> <strong>Mountains</strong> to be subject towildfires that can have a number <strong>of</strong> causes <strong>and</strong> once started will spread up the slope in anuncontrolled fashion. Occasionally, these fires reach the forests <strong>and</strong> during dry years they canenter the forest <strong>and</strong> cause considerable damage. They also burn huge areas <strong>of</strong> upl<strong>and</strong> grass in the<strong>Eastern</strong> <strong>Arc</strong> <strong>Mountains</strong>.43
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