Forestry and Value Chains Development Programme - FORVAC

As FORVAC is going to end in the next few weeks, a workshop, where the results and impact of the project were shared with a wide stakeholder group, was arranged in Dar es Salaam on the 24th of June.

FORVAC 's goal is to support Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) and community based enterprises using sustainably produced forest products, supporting communities to capture as much value as possible from forest product value chains. The intention is that by ensuring communities generate significant benefits from the CBFM forests, there will be a strong incentive to maintain and manage the forests.

In the CBFM sites supported by FORVAC, local communities generated 4 million euros (9,5 billion Tanzanian shillings) through sustainable timber enterprises. This was achieved whilst deforestation rates were 7 times lower in the CBFM forests than in other forests in the area, including forest under government management. It might be thought that timber harvesting would lead to deforestation, but the reverse has been proven, the higher the income from sustainable timber harvesting, the lower the forest clearance. In fact the CBFM forests where income from sustainable timber production is highest, there is the lowest rates of deforestation, almost zero. It is clear that when the forests are under community control and sustainable management, the forest that pays, stays.

Below is the news broadcast by Channel Ten Tz and ITV Tanzania