Godgift Swai

Assessment of Plant Diversity and Ecological Status of the Coastal Tanzania Forests: A Case Study of Mafia Island “Coastal Forest Mosaic”

Mafia island.

Forest officer (Mr Gideon Zakayo in the middle) and village elders.

Godgift and Mr Thabit (local botanist).

Inhambane Coastal Forest Mosaic", which includes forest patches found on the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, and Mafia. The coastal forest mosaics stretches from Southern Somalia through Kenya and Tanzania, to Southern Mozambique, and is characterized by tropical dry forests within a mosaic of savannahs, grassland habitats and wetlands areas. A mosaic of vegetation types including evergreen forest, Brachystegia woodland, scrub forest and dry forest characterizes these forests. Generally, the forests are found just inland from the coast with outliers occurring along rivers and several locations where it grades into sub-montane forests at the foothills of mountain ranges.

The biodiversity of the coastal forests is recognized as being of global importance due to the high levels of biodiversity and endemism found within its small, fragmented forest patches. Despite their importance, in terms of biodiversity and use; they are subject to rapid degradation and highly threatened. The main threats include, pressure on forest resources, agriculture, settlement, urbanization, lack of legal protection, and wildlife-human conflicts.

It is on this basis, this study is being conducted in Mafia Island to assess plant diversity and ecological status of the coastal forests. The study aims at enhancing understanding of the richness and diversity of trees and shrubs species in the coastal forests of Tanzania, gathering useful information on composition and relative abundance of trees and shrubs species in the coastal forests with respect to Mafia Island and identifying the trees/shrubs species in the area.

This will serve as a useful basis for further research and conservation purpose, assessing and documenting trees and shrub species of higher ecological importance and endemism using their relative geographical locations, and laying down the ecological status and associated interactions within the coastal forests. The results will be useful to policy and decision makers at the national, regional and local levels, research and development institutions, natural resource managers as well as conservation organizations/partners involved in forestry and conservation activities.

For further information contact godgiftj@yahoo.com or godgift@suanet.ac.tz