The Western Indian Ocean Mangrove Network is pleased to announce the release of a documentary on the Rufiji Delta Mangroves.
Rufiji River Delta in Tanzania hosts one of the largest contiguous mangrove forests in the Western Indian Ocean region, covering over 50,000 ha. The delta the mangrove forest represents a complex coupled nature-human system with diverse forms of interactions. Communities dwelling with around the delta have for generations depended of exploiting the mangrove resource and the forest land to sustain their livelihoods through extraction of the fisheries resource, cutting of wood resources and conversion of the forest area into farm land to support rice cultivation. Nonetheless, of these livelihood occupations have increasingly threatened the sustainability of the delta, with records of over 10% of the mangrove covered lost over that past four decades, calling for urgent measures to secure the ecological integrity of the delta for suitable provision of the ecosystem services through collaborative governance arrangements with state, non-state and communities to enhance conservation and restoration.
The film, produced with support from UNEP-Nairobi Convention’s WIOSAP project and USAID-US’ Forest Service SWAMP project, demonstrates such challenges and opportunities for balancing the ecological and social needs for a sustainable future of the delta and dependent livelihoods.
