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Z'bar plays role in illegal logging
2005-07-13 09:14:46
By Concilia Niyibitanga, IJMC
Investigations revealed that timber, logs and poles illegally sourced from Rufiji forests end up in Singapore, Malaysia and the Middle East, where there is a ready market in the construction industry – mainly ship and housing.
Logs obtained from mangrove forests are first ferried to Zanzibar on dhows that have the capacity to carry between 10 and 20 pieces.
Timber is also on the list of the forest products smuggled to Zanzibar from Rufiji forests.
From Zanzibar, the products are loaded onto cargo ships destined for the Middle and Far East.
The Kibiti Zonal Mangrove Officer, Yusuf Kajia, told The Guardian on Saturday that trafficking in illegal mangrove logs is lucrative business that is conducted through Kiwanga and Mbwera “ports” in Rufiji Delta.
The logs are loaded onto dhows under the cover of night to avoid detection.
He said the contraband products consist mostly of fresh logs, which businessmen are not supposed to trade in.
The fresh logs are illegally harvested from various natural forests in the district, he said.
“Kiwanga and Mbwera are notorious for the illegal export of logs.
There is a heavy traffic of dhows between the two villages and Zanzibar, most of which transport smuggled logs, timber and mangrove poles,” he said.
He cited a recent incident in which 13 people were arrested and six dhows transporting logs, poles and timber by sea to Zanzibar were impounded. One of the dhows was loaded with at least 1,000 long pieces of timber. Another one had an unspecified number of logs.
“They were arraigned in court and fined 100,000/- each,” he said.
Asked if smuggling of logs and other forest products to Zanzibar is a serious problem in the district, Kajia said that it had gone up after the ban imposed by the government last year.
“Illegal trafficking in logs was not a serious problem until last year.
However, the smuggling of mangrove products dates back to the colonial period,” he said.
He added that Rufiji produces some of the best mangrove products in the country.
He cited a number of problems that led to the spiralling of smuggling, one of which is the sheer area of the mangrove forest cover, estimated to be 53,000 hectares.
“We don’t have enough staff to patrol the expansive area and so smugglers capitalise on this to traffic in banned forest wood products,” he said.
Kajia said lack of speedboats for patrolling the shores had also contributed to the problem.
His office has only one boat that cannot ply deep into the sea because it cannot withstand strong waves.
“Community environmental committees are doing their best to check criminal activities, but the latter usually operate in remote areas. Besides, the smugglers are usually armed. Village patrol groups cannot confront armed smugglers,” he said.
However, sometimes the office get police escort when they go for patrols.
Bakari Mwanga Mpendu of Salale village in the Rufiji delta confirmed about the smuggling of logs, timber and poles is rife in Salale, Mnyale, Mawanda, Changani, Kinishi and Kifuruni villages.
“Mature mangrove trees are cut and ferried to Zanzibar for onward transmission to markets in the Middle East.
Other types of trees are also not spared as they are felled for timber and logs,” he said last weekend.
“The problem is that some people in the villages benefit from the illegal business and so frustrate the efforts by environmental committees.
There is a growing rift between those who want to protect the environment and those who destroy it,” Mapendu observed.
He said that even when criminals are arrested, the fines slapped on them – ranging from 50,000/- and 100,000/- – are negligible.
“They have the money to pay the fines. The fines are small change to them,” he said.
Mapendu said the government should be stricter and deal with offenders severely so as to stop environmental destruction and the smuggling of forest products from the area.
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