National Forest Policy

TFCG has participated in the formulation of the 1998 Tanzania National Forest Policy. Some of the key changes in this policy include the empowerment of local communities to participate in the management of forest reserves. TFCG continues to lobby actively for this policy to be fully implemented and for real benefits to flow to the communities that participate.

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD)

Deforestation is responsible for up to 20 % of the Carbon Dioxide emitted into the Earth’s atmosphere. As the world wakes up to the need to protect our planet’s climate, so it becomes clear that reducing deforestation and forest degradation is an essential step towards climate protection. As the world discusses how to make REDD succeed so TFCG is involved in advocacy initiatives to ensure that forest adjacent communities have a voice in those discussions and that the approach that is adopted will bring real benefits to the forests and the people living around them.

Illegal logging

TFCG is an active partner in the Mama Misitu campaign. This campaign aims to address illegal logging in the Coastal Forests and to improve forest governance more generally. It was launched by Nobel Prize Laureate, Wangari Maathai in early 2008. Illegal logging in Tanzania’s coastal forests has been linked with corruption and other significant governance shortfalls which have resulted in as much as 96 % of potential government revenue not being collected and the gradual commercial extinction of many tree species in the Coastal Forests. By shining a spotlight on these issues the campaign aims to make widespread illegal logging a thing of the past.