Tansania

Dar es Salaam. The campaign to improve forest governance in the country yesterday got a major boost as Finland and Norway contributed a $ 5,060,000 towards the second phase of Mama Misitu campaign.

The second phase which will take off this year to 2016, is expected to improve transparency and accountability in the forestry sector and reduce illegal harvesting of forests.
 
The campaign would be build on public, private and non-governmental partnerships and networks related to sustainable use of forests and timber products.

Dar es Salaam.  Funding for a carbon trading system known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) has been suspended until further negotiations between poor countries and powerful industrial nations.

A PLAN to start baseline survey in Rufiji delta by World Wildlife Fund for Nature which wants to help villagers get paid through REDD, has suffered a setback from the torching of farm huts and cutting down of coconut trees by Mangrove Management Project officials last October.

Reduced Emission from Deforestation and Degradation is a United Nations programme which seeks to compensate communities for keeping their forest intact which helps absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduce global warming.

Reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation plus (REDD+) has been developing in Tanzania since 2008 and the government is working on the development of a national strategy and action plan, as well as institutions that will enable it to implement a national REDD+ scheme. A number of studies are currently underway to help inform the detail of a future REDD strategy. Ten pilot projects are in development (REDD strategy 2010).

Audits finally conducted of Norway’s foreign aid to Tanzania revealed irregularities and corruption, but critics claim Norwegian officials reacted much too mildly. The Foreign Ministry (Utenriksdepartementet, UD) appears to have been reluctant to take up difficult questions with Tanzanian authorities.