MCP'S work with Tanzanian forest communities spans four key areas:
Community Forestry
• Training villagers in sustainable forestry
The MCP achieves this by establishing Village Natural Resource Councils (VNRCs), elected by the villagers themselves who then establish Village Land Forest Reserve (VLFR) and are trained in sustainable forest management. This approach to forestry is called Participatory Forest Management (PFM).
• Establishing Village Land Forest Reserves (VLFRs)
This is key to the participatory approach that is being used by the MCP. Villages, with the help of their VNRC, establish an area inside their territory that will be managed sustainably. The MCP helps them by aiding in marking the boundaries of the reserve and in some cases mediating border disputes between communities.
Community development
• Encouraging local development and enterprise
The MCP helps villages to set up businesses and carries out training in alternative livelihood schemes such as beekeeping. The MCP helps them to set up bank accounts and micro-credit systems that can help local people to get their business off the ground and running successfully.
• Training in techniques to reduce wildlife/ human conflict
The MCP carries out training in techniques that can mitigate the problems that villagers have with local fauna, in particular elephants. People can deter elephants from damaging their crops by mixing elephant dung with chillies and motor oil, resulting in a win-win situation where the elephants stay clear of important harvests.
Research
• Socio-economic research
The MCP carries out research into the livehoods of the people where it works in order to be informed about how its activities might successfully promote community development.
• Ecological research
Following its origins as a series of research expeditions, the MCP continues to carry out research into the ecology of mpingo and other timber species. This is vital as like other tropical tree species, blackwood’s biology is poorly understood.
• Participatory research
The MCP carries out stocks assessments of mpingo and other timber species with the VNRC in each village forests area. The data generated from this then allows us to come up with a quota of trees for a sustainable harvest.
A current research aim of the project in the near future is to combine the branches of research in order to build on the scant scientific knowledge of mpingo’s habitat and find realistic ways in which communities can manage their local biodiversity sustainably.
Awareness raising
The MCP carries out awareness raising in the communities where it works and it other neighbouring communities in Kilwa. This is achieved through meeting and talking to village councils and households, distributing leaflets and more innovative ways to bring our message across such as role-plays. The main seeds that we have been sowing have been about:
• Participatory forest management
• Certification
• Sustainable forestry
• Good governance
• The value of mpingo
