The decline of traditional agricultural practices has contributed to the degradation of Tanzania's coastal forests. This project combines farmer-led research and institutional and local government capacity building to research and implement sustainable land management options that support forest ecosystem restoration.
Decline in traditional long-fallow farming contributes to the degradation of Tanzania's coastal forests
Accelerating deforestation on community-owned land in Tanzania's coastal forests threatens millions of people's livelihoods, erodes biodiversity and emits CO2. Socially marginalised groups are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of deforestation.
Natural regeneration is usually the best way to restore forests. Traditional long-fallow swidden farming involves clearing forests for short periods of cropping and then leaving areas fallow for long periods. This suppresses weeds and enables the forest and soil to regenerate naturally.
Long-fallow swidden agriculture and agroforestry have traditionally underpinned millions of farmers' livelihoods and provide climate, biodiversity and soil ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes.
However, there is a global decline in long-fallow swidden agriculture, contributing to environmental degradation and increased livelihood vulnerability. Modern agriculture emphasises the input of fertilisers and herbicides, and policies promoting intensification increase the decline of long-fallowing and the attendant benefits for soil, biodiversity, livelihood resilience and carbon sequestration.
In addition, Tanzania's community-based forest management models currently exclude agriculture, the main rural livelihood. The binary view of 'forest-or-agriculture' favours deforestation.
Long-fallow swidden agriculture and agroforestry provide sustainable land management options that support small-scale farmers and biodiversity.
This project combines research and action to support traditional long-fallow swidden farming as part of the management of Tanzania's coastal forest areas. The project encourages long-fallows of sufficient length to return land to forest, as distinct from most slash-and-burn agriculture.
Longer fallowing is helping to create wild biodiversity reservoirs within agricultural landscapes and protected-area buffer zones, enhancing forest habitat connectivity and moderating threats to wild biodiversity from climate impacts of deforestation.
The project is working with farmers and research organisations to co-produce evidence, toolkits and open-access knowledge resources on integrating long-fallow swidden agriculture and agroforestry with community-based forest management.
The project is building the capacity of Tanzanian forestry and agricultural research institutes TARI and TAFORI to co-design research with farmers and integrate gender and social inclusivity into research. The project is also building local government capacity to support communities to integrate community-based forest management and long-fallow swidden agriculture, benefitting farmers and promoting cooperation between the forest and agriculture sectors.
The project is a partnership between the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG), the Community Forest Conservation Network of Tanzania (MJUMITA) and the University of Leeds (UK).