Forest Governance Hearing


PANEL RESPONSE Panel of Experts



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PANEL RESPONSE

  1. Panel of Experts


The Forest Governance Hearing event was attended by a panel of forestry experts who were assembled in order to bear witness to the testimonials and who were able to respond to various concerns raised by stakeholders.
The panel was made up of Mr. Valentine Msusa of the central government’s forestry agency called the Tanzania Forestry Services Agency; Mr. Ben Sulus the Executive Secretary of Tanzania’s largest association of timber sawmillers, known by its Kiswahili acronym of SHIVIMITA; Mr. Abdallah Ulega Gala who as a District Commissioner is the highest ranking representative in Kilwa District one of the country’s leading forest harvesting area; and Ms. Inger Naess the Counsellor for Environment and Climate Change at the Embassy of Norway, one of the Tanzania’s development partners with many years of major support to the forestry sector.
Herein below is documented the response of the panel of experts to testimonials that were put forward at the Forest Governance Hearing.

    1. Mr. Valentine Msusa – Director of Planning and Resources Utilization, Tanzania Forestry Services Agency (TFS)





Mr. Msusa first responded to Pily Kondo Chamguhi’s comments. He informed the plenary that the week before he had worked together with UNDP on the issue of cost/benefit sharing, resulting in the drafting of regulations that will eventually be announced in the form of a Government Notice. The government has received $700,000 from UNDP to address the information gap that had been mentioned by the testimonials. TFS are currently preparing regulations so that by July 2013 cost/benefit sharing will be legally regulated.
In responding to Juma Mshiru, Mr. Msusa stated that the Forest Act of 2002 was clear on the role of community’s participation in forest management. Mr. Msusa did concede that environmental issues are often given low priority by government. He provided the example of the last budget of the Forestry and Beekeeping Division, before it was reformed to become TFS, where a budget of 15 billion shillings was projected, but only 6 billion shillings were received and only 3 billion shillings were allocated for operations.
TFS was now planning on deploying Forest Managers to every district and every forest reserve. Forest Managers for Kisarawe and Kibaha Districts were already in place. The new TFS structure called for Forest Zonal Mangers to oversee the District Forest Managers. These Forest Managers will be responsible for promoting PFM. During the next annual budget TFS will employ graduates from Olmotonyi, FITI Moshi Forestry College and Tabora Beekeeping College on one year contracts, while they await establishment orders for full time employment. TFS is not yet free to hire staff as they wish.
TFS had set a 53 billion shilling collection target for the fiscal year 2012/2013. From May 2012 to February 2013, 3.7 billion shillings worth of illegal forest produce was captured through the use of informers. In addition to their target, TFS had 67 billion shillings in actual collections, and this was attributed to better forest law enforcement.
Mr. Msusa in responding to Mwinyi Said and the issue of transporting contraband forest products explained that TFS is currently trying to break up collusion networks in the ministry. He explained that staff are being transferred so that they don’t become too familiar and corrupted with traders in one location. Mr. Msusa offered to provide the telephone numbers of forest law enforcers, thereby inviting informers and whistle blowers to report forest crimes to TFS. He mentioned that many staff have been removed from checkpoints and are now working in Nature Reserves, where presumably there were fewer opportunities for collusion. The use of motorcycles to transport contraband is recognized to be a problem. Mr. Msusa admitted that many motorcycle owners who involve themselves in illegal forest trade are government employees, including members of the armed forces. The Forest Act directed that vehicles caught ferrying contraband should be confiscated.
Mr. Msusa stated that he recognized that the police and other state organs can be problematic. He promised that TFS will always support communities. Mr. Msusa mentioned that benefits to communities are only possible if forest resources continue to be available.
    1. Mr. Ben Sulus – Executive Secretary SHIVIMITA





Mr. Sulus stated that it was good to have fora like this Forest Governance Hearing Event, from time to time. He was pleased that TFS has experienced the benefit of meeting with governance and other stakeholder, as in his words, TFS is the lead forestry stakeholder. He stated that there was a need to work as a team amongst all forestry stakeholders.
Mr. Sulus reminded participants that the Prime Minister and the minister of finance had directed all government departments to procure their furniture from Tanzanian sources. However, local furniture factories were experiencing difficulty in accessing raw materials. Mr. Sulus wanted TFS to insist on increasing efficiencies in forest harvesting and processing, by improving recovery rates in sawmilling and in charcoal burning. Mr. Sulus called for a Code of Conduct amongst the private sector.
Mr. Sulus claimed that some of the problems in enforcing the forest laws were because the current harvesting guidelines are inadequate. He recommended that future guidelines be drafted in a participatory process. He also proposed that simple, user friendly language is used in government documents intended for the public. Mr. Sulus further proposed that TFS should document their accomplishments. Mr. Sulus feels that the issue of benefit sharing needs to be flexible over time.

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