4.2 Forestry and Marine/Fisheries Resources

A. Overall Contribution to Economy:

Forest. Forest and woodland area covers 44 million hectares or one-half of Tanzania's land area. Out of this area, 97% is woodland and 1.6 million hectares are reserved as catchment/water source protection areas. The rest are natural productive forests and forest plantations which supply timber and fuelwood. This section emphasizes forests as sources of timber supply and water catchment protection, while the section on energy focuses on forests' contribution to fuelwood supply. Wood exports in 1991/2 were equal to US$ 2 million and in 1993, US$ 3.4 million.

It is difficult to quantify forests' contribution to the Gross Domestic Product because of their many immeasurable values, like protection of watersheds for water supply for community use and hydroelectric power generation, irrigation and soil conservation, agricultural production and provision of employment opportunities.

Marine and Fisheries Resources. Ocean fishing, freshwater fishing and fish farming (aquaculture) each make up the sector and are target areas for investment.¹ 293,000 tons of fish were produced annually in recent years. Revenue from fish exports in 1991/2 were equal to US$ 10 million and in 1992/93 were equal to US $23 million.² The National Environment Action Plan (NEAP) notes that for a small percentage of rural families, fishing is the main means of sustenance, including coastal fishers and fisherfolk on the productive Lake Victoria.³ Eighty percent of the total Tanzania fish production is fresh water fish. The NEAP also lists marine resources as including fish stocks, coral reefs, sandy beaches, mangroves, marine grasses, salt resources and great biological diversity.

1. National Investment Promotion Policy, 1995.
2. 2 Rolling Plan and Forward Budget for Tanzania, 1994/5 - 1996/7.
3. 3 NEAP, p. 6.