The Mpingo Conservation Project : BP Consolidation Award Winners 2004

In 2004 the Mpingo Conservation Project won one of the top consolidation prizes in the BP Conservation Awards Programme. This has allowed the project to set up a permanent field office in Kilwa, southern Tanzania, where we are working in close co-operation with the District Forestry Office and continuing the Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) programme initiated by the Danida-funded Utumi project. Community-based initiatives are the only ones likely to achieve significant conservation gains with respect to mpingo and its habitat, and have been advocated by the project since its very first report. However CBFM cannot be rushed.

In the two year period covered by the BP prize we supported the implementation of two new Village Forest Areas (VFAs) in Ruhatwe and Kikole, and expansion of CBFM to two further villages: Migeregere and Kisangi-Kimbarambara. Migeregere was the site of the 1998 expedition, and all four villages were visited by the 2003 one. The VFAs in Ruhatwe and Kikole were established under management plans developed through the Utumi project, and we aimed to reach the same stage in Migeregere and Kisangi-Kimbarabara by the end of the initial two year programme.

A full report is available here. >>

However if we are to achieve lasting success the project needs to secure funding to continue for the next 10-15 years and to expand elsewhere in Lindi region. The first stage of this was achieved in 2005 when, together with Fauna & Flora International, one of the BPCP partners, the Project was awarded a grant from the Darwin Initiative to continue and expand the Project's activities until March 2008.