The Mpingo Conservation Project : Darwin Grant Recipient 2005

In 2005 a partnership between the Project, and Fauna & Flora International in the UK,was awarded a grant from the British government via the Darwin Initiative. The grant will principally fund the Project’s award winning work in Kilwa District, developing community management and sustainable harvesting of mpingo.

The grant of £144,268 will be spread over 3 years, with over 80% of the funds being spent in Tanzania. It will support the setting aside of community forest areas in at least 6 villages in Kilwa District in which sustainable harvesting regimes will be implemented. The grant will additionally support a programme of applied research addressing critical issues for mpingo conservation, and raise awareness about mpingo and its conservation locally, nationally and internationally. Project outputs will include some national guidelines for best management of mpingo and other high value timber species under PFM in Tanzania, and a monitoring programme to determine timber growth rates. We also hope to oversee the first harvest of sustainable managed mpingo from our main areas of operation to a specialist or small-scale instrument manufacturer in the UK.

Additional technical expertise will come from Fauna & Flora International (FFI), based in Cambridge, UK, through their Biodiversity and Human Needs programme.