Problem Statement

The main problem to be addressed by this project is the increased mangrove forests loss in the Rufiji Delta since the early 1980s to now. The drivers of both, global and national environmental degradation are directly linked to unsustainable production practices ? primarily in agriculture, fisheries, and forestry ? that result is species and habitat loss, as well as the massive or progressive destruction of woody biomass for land clearance or fuel.

Background of poverty, force communities to illegally cut mangrove forests for timber business, poles for buildings and rice farms expansion. Rice farmers enjoy the natural irrigation brought by monthly low and high tides which assures them to get anticipated harvests regardless of rainfalls. Destruction of mangrove forests automatically destroys the habitat for other biodiversity like prawns breeding grounds and bees without forgetting the diverse of flora and fauna.

Weakness of rural communities in the Rufiji Delta to address the drivers of global and national environmental degradation mainly biodiversity loss, land degradation, and greenhouse gas emissions. Lack of a strategic framework of integrated and sustainable landscape and seascape management for increased ecosystem and socio-economic resilience, that may enable them participate in a multi-level and a multi-sector landscape governance and diversification of economic strategies to support sustainability of these efforts accelerate the situation.

The Government of Tanzania has made great efforts to address this problem. In 1991, Tanzania became the first country in Africa to develop a National Mangrove Forest Management Plan. This initiative was initiated by the Tanzania Forest Service (TFSA). It was this initiative that provided an opportunity to begin removing the Government's excessive control and allowing the commercialization and use of mangroves in accordance with specific procedures. The steps to solve this problem are as outlined below:
? Complete Protectionism (Protectionism) Government is the one with all the rights Yes used for a long time. It did not produce productivity.
? Permits for individuals to grow mangroves and rice (Individual Permits) All rights belong to the Government. Started in 2011, 4 villages were involved. 250 farmers signed. It did not produce productivity. TFS deleted it completely.
? Allowing groups to plant mangroves and maintaining them for a daily wage (Group Rehabilitation Scheme) All rights belong to the Government. Every member of the group is entitled to be paid only wages. Young people were paid $ 7 per day for planting and $ 5 per day for weeding. It started in 2015. 31 groups (with 15- 30 group members).
? TFS preferred Kibiti groups over the respective villages. It did not produce productivity
? Government Village Partnership Management (JFM and CBFM) The Government is the sole owner and owner of the right to Participatory Management. Started in 2015, several villages have been involved in these measures:
-Compose Natural Resources Committees
-Make small rules
-Making village plans for mangrove management.
? Finally a Joint Mangrove Forest Management Plan has been developed but is being reviewed now .It has not produced the expected productivity. So far rice farmers have not found a permanent solution. Rice production has decreased thus leading to food shortages.
? The community has continued to rely heavily on earning an income from the illegal mangrove trade. The community has continued to rely heavily on small-scale fishing activities.
? Mangrove forests continue to be affected. Coastal and marine biodiversity in the Rufiji Delta has continued to be affected
? The level of Poverty, Ignorance and Disease for communities in these areas is still high.
The sea waves action on the coastline destruct mangroves through erosion. We have not been able to determine the impact of sea wave action on mangrove destruction so far, but proper action need to be taken. Simbaulanga, Kiomboni, Dima, Mbwera, Jaja, Pombwe, Kiongoroni and Roma islets have been and are still being affected by this action of seawaves.

Communities are the main actors in this proposed project. Several methods will be used to empower them to have a sense of resources ownership and responsibility to sustainably conserve, restore and utilize for their present livelihood as well as the next generations.
Awareness workshops, trainings, and field techniques on mangrove restoration, beekeeping, eco-tourism and surveillance will be taught. Awareness with introduction and strengthening of beekeeping and eco-tourism, will voluntarily refrain these communities from overdependence on mangrove forests products for livelihood.

Last year?s flooding and prolonged freshwater logging in mangrove swamps in some parts of Ruma village caused some varieties of mangroves to die and leave vast areas which need restoration. So far we have earmarked 3 areas in Kiongoroni Ward with a total of 21.2 hectors which need restoration.


Rationale and Justification
It is in this context that the proposed project aims at establishing an active ecological link between the protected mangrove forests with the surrounding unprotected mangrove forests in the Rufiji Delta landscape, becomes a significant step towards reducing isolation of spatially separated populations of plants and animals and to potentially increasing the total area of habitat available. .Mangrove forests just like any other kind of forests are over harvested or destroyed every year in Rufiji and Kibiti Districts and Tanzania in general. According to the Tanzania Mangrove forests Services, whom we consulted in the course of preparing this project, ?? the mangrove forests were reduced by 5000 ha between year 1980 to year 1995. The trend depicted linear increase to 11000 ha by year 2010. If the BAU situation is left to prevail, the decrease in mangrove forests may reach about 15,800 ha by year 2018. Similarly, the study conducted by B.P. Mbilinyi and J. Kashaigili (Sokoine University) et al. in the Eastern Arc Coastal Rainforests including the mangrove forests in the Rufiji Delta, showed that areas of key biodiversity in the mangrove were being reduced at the rate of 0.231 ha annually between year 1990 (79.69 ha) to year 2000 (77.38). This shows that under BAU the trend may reach 6.468 ha by year 2018. The Mangrove Project Conservation under assistance from the NORAD played a significant role from 1980s to 2010. The MACEMP project from 2007 to 2011 also contributed to the efforts done by NORAD in collaboration with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.
The goal of this project is to contribute to achieving global environmental benefits by empowering local communities to manage biodiversity in the Rufiji Delta ecosystems in a manner that enhances their social, economic and environmental sustainability and resilience. Landscape and Seascape resilience will be enhanced through the individual and synergistic impacts of a set of adaptive community practices that maintain ecosystem services, conserve biodiversity, mitigate climate change and reverse land degradation in the Rufiji Delta Villages. This project focuses on the Rufiji Delta Mangrove forests ecosystem, which is an important part of the Coastal Mangrove forests of Eastern Africa and among the most threatened and fragmented habitats.