Department of Commercial Crops Fruits & Forestry

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

Background

International interest in the Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests hotspot has increased over the last three decades as the realization of its biodiversity importance and of the global crisis affecting tropical forests has deepened. Although descriptions of the wealth of biodiversity in the forests of the Eastern Arc Mountains date back to 1860 and there has been outstanding scientific work in the hotspot during the last 100 years, concerns for its conservation are relatively recent. Until about 30 years ago, nearly all the investment in the forests of the area had been in plantations, many of which were established after clearing indigenous forest.

The East African Coastal Forest Mosaic

The area defined by the Coastal Forests of Tanzania and Kenya in the hotspot includes the intervening habitats between the coastal forest patches. Although the main biodiversity values are concentrated in the forests there are a significant number of endemics (especially plants) in non-forested habitats. This part of the hotspot is therefore a mosaic, which stretches from the border of Kenya with Somalia, to the border of Tanzania with Mozambique, including the islands of Zanzibar, Mafia and Pemba. This part of the hotspot is, largely for practical reasons, partly defined by national boundaries; coastal forests in Somalia (very little left) and Mozambique (large areas) are poorly known and are excluded. Northern Mozambique could be included with further survey work. With the exception of Somalia, the mosaic, as defined here, corresponds to the WWF ecoregion known as the “Northern Zanzibar-Inhambane Coastal Forest Mosaic” (WWF-US 2003b). This falls within the “Zanzibar-Inhambane Regional Mosaic,” which is one of 18 distinct biogeographical regions that White (1983) recognized for Africa.

In Kenya, the Northern Zanzibar-Inhambane Coastal Forest Mosaic is mostly confined to a narrow coastal strip except along the Tana River where it extends inland to include the forests of the lower Tana River (the northern-most of which occur within the Tana Primate National Reserve) (Figures 1, 2). In Tanzania, the Mosaic runs from border to border along the coast, contracting in the Rufiji Delta region. There are also some outliers located up to ca. 300 km inland at the base of a few of the Eastern Arc Mountains (Udzungwa, Mahenge, Uluguru and Nguru) (WWF-US 2003a). Much of the Mosaic has been converted to subsistence agriculture, interrupted by plantations and human settlements, including the large cities of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam (populations of more than 700,000 and 3 million, respectively).

Geologically, the coastal forest strip has been subject to considerable tectonic activity and to sedimentation and erosion associated with movements of the shoreline (Clarke & Burgess 2000). Most coastal forests are found between 0-50 m and 300-500 m, although in Tanzania they occur up to 1040 m (Burgess et al. 2000). Rainfall ranges between 2000 mm/year (Pemba) to 500 mm/year (northern Kenya and southern Tanzania) (Clarke 2000). There are two rainy seasons (long, April-June; short, November-December) in the north, but only one (April-June) in the south. Dry seasons can be severe and El Niño effects dramatic. Climatic conditions are believed to have been relatively stable for the last 30 million years (Axelrod & Raven 1978), although variation from year to year can be considerable, leading to droughts or floods.

The Ecosystem Profile

The purpose of the ecosystem profile is to provide an overview of biodiversity values, conservation targets or “outcomes,” the causes of biodiversity loss and current conservation investments in a particular hotspot. Its purpose is to identify the niche where CEPF investments can provide the greatest incremental value.

The ecosystem profile recommends strategic opportunities, called “strategic funding directions.” Civil society organizations then propose projects and actions that fit into these strategic directions and contribute to the conservation of biodiversity in the hotspot. Applicants propose specific projects consistent with these funding directions and investment criteria. The ecosystem profile does not define the specific activities that prospective implementers may propose, but outlines the conservation strategy that guides those activities. Applicants for CEPF grants are required to prepare detailed proposals identifying and describing the interventions and performance indicators that will be used to evaluate the success of the project.