MY TRIP TO BUSWELU VILLAGE

Buswelu village is in beautiful mountain scenery, has good and fertile soils, good people, a lot of water springs and catchment which makes it a good place and one of the precious places in Ilemela District, Mwanza Region.

THE POTENTIALS OF CATFISH

Burunge Lake is among of the three lakes in Manyara region. The lake has 40 square kilometer and it has average depth of 8 miters. In spite of having other species such as tilapia, rockets, and catfish is the dominant specie in this lake. Catfish can be identified by their whisker-like barbells round the mouth which they use to locate food in dark water, and they vary from small, peaceful species to larger, more predatory species. These scales less bottom feeder eat a wide variety of foods, including algae, small fish, prepared food and scavenged debris. Therefore catfish are environmental cleaner.

THREATENED FISH AT LAKE BURUNGE.

“The rate at which fish is being consumed is posing a threat to the existence of fish in Lake Burunge”. This has been observed at Lake Burunge in Bahati District where by some fish species which are found in this lake such as cut fish, aprochromus, Oreochromis, tilapia and rocket have all been threatened by human activities around the lake. Several species of these have been greatly overfished and killed by pesticides from farms along the lake.

THE WORSENESS OF COASTAL TOURISM INVESTORS

After the collapse of socialism policy in the word, Tanzania had no other option than to accept the free market policy from the western countries in 1980s, the policy which has dominated the universe.

WHY THIS?

It was during my field at Babati district in Manyara region. The objective of the trip was to study and learn about environmental conservation in the region. I visited three villages; Halla, Ayasanda and Haraa.

When I was in Halla village I met an old man known as Mr. Joachim John, who was born in 1937 in southern part of Tanzania. Mr. Joachim started to preserve the environment in 1985 in Halla village. During that time, environmental destruction was high, that’s why Mr. Joachim decided to ask the local government to give himland as an individual for private ownership.

THE GREAT HALLA

Oooh Halla! Solution to Galapo, Kashi, Jundahida and Jadamari. Availability of water through out the year. The great Halla every one should bow to you, you bring back happiness to us, ooh Halla the great!!. Presence of trees attracts water table to be near to the earth surface which leads to the formation of spring in the forest.

The catchments area develop where by the volume of water increase and form a river, The government fix pipe to the catchments area which direct water to the four villages that is Jedamari , Kashi, Jundahida and Galapo.

DOING ENVIRONMENTAL WORK IN A LOCAL COMMUNITY BY CONSIDERING A SPECIFIC CONTEXT

Declining of environmental conservation in Tanzania has been partly due to poverty as one of the factors, this is because many people at local level cut down trees for charcoal, firewood and for house building without replanting other trees. It is also believed that the rate of planting trees is very low due to low income of the people and awareness on the importance of environmental conservation in their given localities.

IS CONSERVATION OF FORESTS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE?

It was in my field visit at Babati district in Manyara region when I got a golden opportunity to visit about three villages that is Ayasanda, Halla and Harra as well. In the villages I witnessed an old man and some other community members putting their extra efforts on conserving their forests.

Mr. Joachim Tambo aged (74) was an old man I met in Halla, he put much efforts on planting different kinds of trees like mikuyu, grevelia eucalyptus, kigeria, africano and many others.

REGULATION OF CHARCOAL SECTOR: SOLUTION TO ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

An estimated 90 percent of Tanzania’s energy consumption is coming from wood fuels. Charcoal is the single largest source of household energy in urban areas as it considered as cheap and easy to transport, distribute and store. Between 2001-2007, the proportion of households in Dar es Salaam using charcoal raised from 47 percent to 71 percent. Approximately half of Tanzanian annual consumption of charcoal race in Dar es Salaam amounting to approximately 5000,000 tones.

COMMUNITY BASED FOREST MANAGEMENT; A WORKING TOOL FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

Community Based Forest Management takes place on village land or private land, and the trees are owned and managed by either a village council [through a village natural resources committee] a group or an individual. All the costs and benefits relating to management and utilization are carried by the owner. The role of the central government is minimal and the district has a role only in monitoring. The vivid examples of community based forest management are found in Babati district particularly to those different villages like Hala, Ayasanda as well as Haraa. In both Ayasanda and Haraa forests are owned and managed by village council but at Hala village we found that the forest owned and managed by an individual known as Joachim Hamo.

IS PARTICIPATORY FOREST MANAGEMENT A SOLUTION TO DEFORESTATION?

Participatory Forest Management (PFM) refers to processes and mechanism that enable those people who have a direct stake in forest resources to be part of decision making in all aspects of forest management, from managing resources to formulating and implementing institutional framework.

Deforestation occurs for many reasons, trees or derived charcoal are used as or sold for fuel or as timber while cleared land is used as a pasture for livestock, plantations of commodities and settlements.