Mtwara mangrove protection succeeds

NOW that Rama Ngole, a fisherman of Msimbati Village in Mtwara Rural District, understands the importance of preserving the surrounding coastline he has joined other villagers to protect its mangroves. Like his fellow residents he has a better understanding as to how these evergreen trees or bushes, with straight slender stems and intertwined roots, which are exposed at low tide, affect his development.

It’s some comfort to him knowing that his village lies within the Mnazi Bay in Ruvuma Estuary Marine Park (MBREMP), because this area enjoys protection from the Government. However, even Ngole acknowledges this cannot be fully effective without villagers’ participation. This is one of two marine parks in the country, which includes three small islands: Namponda, Mongo and Kisiwa Kidogo.

In total the park has an area of 650 square kilometres, of which about 430 square kilometre are covered by mangroves. The other 220 square kilometres are terrestrial habitat, within which his village lies. That is why it’s considered an achievement when residents like Ngole acknowledge that in recent years there has been a visible improvement in the preservation of the mangroves inside this area.

One of the things he says that has brought about a reduction from cutting the mangroves within the vicinity of the village is the fact that the majority of residents have already built their homes, therefore, no longer require poles from the mangroves for this purpose. “Poles from the mangrove make perfect rafters for roofs.

They also have a number of other uses in construction,” he said. “All the same,” he maintains, “villagers are not responsible for current reports of vandalism in these areas.” Ngole, together with other villagers spoken to while on a recent visit to the park, strongly protested that the various incidents of these areas being vandalised is being done by people from neighbouring Mozambique.

This, he maintains, is because these people have nothing to benefit from the preservation of the mangroves and do have a number of uses for the poles obtained from this area. “They come here and cut our mangrove trees, then go back where they came from,” he complained.
Another villager, 60-year-old Hassan Alli Papa, who was also born in Msimbati Village, expressed similar sentiments concerning the careless destruction of the mangroves, as Ngole did.

Having put into operation a tighter surveillance system by the MBREMP around the area, Papa suggested is one of the factors that have brought a reduction in the misuse of the forest there. It turned out that this new system, which Papa, a farmer and small businessman was referring to is heavenly dependant on villagers taking-on the roles of guards.

He explained that they have been trained by the park’s authority, with assistance from the local World Wildlife Fund (WWF), who are based at the regional headquarters. A visit to these offices revealed that when compared to other mangrove areas, such as in Rufiji District of Lindi Region and certain places in Tanga Region, the area within the MBREMP, enjoys more respect, according to the WWF Project Manager, Elias Mungaya.

“Of course, I can say that there is a little bit of overuse of the mangroves in certain areas but not to an extent to worry anyone. Another action we have taken towards their continued presence along the coastline is to encourage people to plant seedlings. It was a difficult thing to do at first but latter on they agreed. Now all the time they bring us new figures, showing how many seedling they have just finished planting,” he said.

He was pleased to see that villagers had taken certain actions on their own initiatives towards the preservations of the mangrove. Then he explained that under the park’s authority villagers are allowed to do “selective cutting” within the mangroves. It only becomes a threat to their survival when this provision is overused. When WWF started operating in the MBREMP area five years ago, they had conducted a survey, which showed that there are seven species of mangroves there.

Mungaya is pleased with the effort by the park authority to make sure these have been protected but he still thinks they need more hands to improve on the quality of the work being done there. According to the Acting Warden In-charge of the MBREMP, Benson Chiwinga, there are 7,000 acres of mangroves within the park. They actually started officially operating there in the year 2000.

He also said that bearing in mind it takes more than ten years for a seedling to reach maturity, any planting done then would just be ready now. Working together with WWF they have been able to provide some alternative livelihood for the villagers, like bee-keeping and fish-farming. This he said has help greatly reduce reckless cutting of the mangroves, which is mainly used for business activities.

“However, you cannot forbid villagers from cutting small quantities of the mangroves now and then for daily uses like firewood, because they are the ones you depend on to protect it.
Therefore, they have to see that it is useful for them, so that they can want to protect it, Chiwinga said recently, at his office within the regional offices grounds.

This is the reason why they have put a system in operation whereby if a villager needs a substantial amount of poles from the mangroves, he or she can take their request to a special village committee that will listen to them and asses whether their need is genuine or not.

In case the person concerned would be given a written agreement to cut a certain number of poles and shown specifically where, within the park area, it must be cut.