Tanzania

Dar es Salaam. The funds for implementation of projects on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) are flowing to developing countries from some developed countries on voluntary basis alone, lacking legally binding framework agreed internationally, it has been learnt.

This makes it difficult to force rich countries pay for environmental conservation efforts as agreed under various international agreements.

The global demand for timber resources has been highlighted by Tanzania's Minister for Natural Resources, who has called on international investors to entrust more of their money to alternative funds such as timber funds.

Ezekiel Maige told a gathering of international businessmen in the East African nation that the national demand for timber and its byproducts had reached 5 million cubic metres, while the nation's timber farms currently only had the capacity to produce 1.2 million cubic metres.

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).