Title: "East Usumbaras Conservation and Development Project"

Project number: B7-5041/93.01/VIII/FOR

Amount: 2.346.600 ECU

Contractor:

• United Republic of Tanzania (Financing Agreement)
• International Union for Conservation of Natural Resources (IUCN), Eastern Africa, Regional Technical Office -Nairobi-Kenya (Technical Assistance)

Field: Conservation

Country: Tanzania

Date of signature:12/08/93; extension of the contract until 31/12/97.

Duration: 36 months

This project is a continuation of the East Usumbaras Agricultural Development and Environmental Conservation Project (EUADEC) financed since 1987 by the Commission under budget line 958 for 750.000 ECU. A forest inventory and management plan was funded by FINNIDA (1986-1988) and the direct conservation part of the 1st phase was expanded in 1991 into a forest conservation, management and research project within the forest, funded by FINNIDA. This project seeks to further develop and extend the achievements of the 1st phase as regards better forest use, alternative forest friendly agricultural practices and improved local awareness of the value of the forests and of the need to protect them.

Objective:

The overall objective is conservation, while the means include improving the living conditions of the neighbouring communities (total of 55.000 people).

Activities:

1. Village Natural Resources management plans (land use survey including Baseline information: use of questionnaires, construction of maps, soil analyses; Zoning; Survey and demarcation)
2. Forestry activities including villages nurseries; village tree planting; inventories of village forests; harvesting from village forests; carpentry, Wood stoves, Seed store.
3. Agricultural activities (soil conservation, cardamon cultivation, alternative cash crops, agro-forestry.
4. Village Development (Fish Ponds, Road maintenance, Sugar making, women activities).
5. Extension & Education (meetings, demonstration/trial plots, film shows/video show, primary school education, seminars).

Results expected:

Further develop and extend the achievements of the first phase project (1986-1988) mentioned above.

Beneficiaries:

Ministry of Agriculture, Co-operatives, neighbouring communities.

Implementation strategy:

Personnel (Project Manager, Chief Technical Adviser, Technical Advisor, Agricultural Officer, Forestry Officer, Fisheries Officer, Women Community Development Officer, Senior Accountant/Administrator, 15 Support Staff, 54 man-months national consultants, 6 man-months international consultants); Transportation; Equipment and supplies; Construction; Seminars.

The project is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MALD).

The project will be overseen by a Steering Committee which will approve the annual programmes and budgets, follow-up the expenditure of the project, monitor and evaluate progress, and co-ordinate with the FINNIDA project.

The Work Programme 1995/96 shows the several activities (in Forestry, Agriculture, Education/Awareness, Rural Infrastructure, Natural Resources Planning, networking, Monitoring and Evaluation) carried out, and their achievements, in order to attain the sustainable and equitable use of the natural resources in the East Usambara.

It underlines that, to achieve the optimum input from the community as well as output from project activities, the project has adopted a more flexible dialogue of conserving the natural resources by involving the communities in order to obtain as much as possible the community commitment to ensure the long term sustainability of the existing resources in the area.