Hello again from Pemba! Updates are becoming few and far between, but rest assured that can only mean we’re working overtime here on the ground. Fortunately for us Genki Kondo, another volunteer with experience tree-planting across Canada, is here with us now assisting with the project.

As mentioned in the previous post,we have been working with the community of Uwandani recently. We have identified some measuring and planting techniques specifically suited to the help the 60 students who will be planting trees there. To our delight, the site at Uwandani was full of old Baobab trees, providing soil stabilization and sun/wind protection for the new seedlings.

Last weekend we arranged an expedition to Ngezi Forest, Pemba’s ecological centre. Our goal (other than to explore the indigenous tropical forest) was to locate specific varieties of trees we had identified as species we wanted to add to our nurseries. This was informed by Daimen’s research and local investigations, trying to find nitrogen fixing alternatives to a particularly harmful species of Acacia, as well as varieties of long lived, high quality hardwoods like Mtondo (Mahogany) and Mbamba Kofi (huge trees used for boat building) that could increase the species diversity in our nurseries. We arranged a meeting with a guide and forests ranger and spent the day hiking and collecting seeds from different species that we came across. We logged all the data in the GPS for future seed sources, and marked those species not currently producing seed with the proper name and fruiting season. The Mahogany that were collected had been deposited in certain areas by the Pemban Flying Fox, an endemic species of giant bat that is essential in spreading specific seeds through the forest.

For those of you interested in the latest pot press updates I have included some photographs of its construction. We are nearing completion; however, due to the lack of a few specialized tools, we have been delayed in its completion. If all goes well we will be sending you photos of it in operation in community workshops throughout Pemba soon. Inshallah!

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Hello everyone, this will be a quick update as I have no photos and I hope one of us will be able to put together  a proper post soon.  Since Zach arrived we’ve been a busy team, assisting communities with final preparations for the planting season.  We spent a couple days this week in Uwandani, providing training in the assessment and management of planting sites, and the community is on track to plant at least 30,000 trees this season.  As I may have mentioned in an earlier post,  Uwandani has yet to have their land surveyed.  Now that we know them better we are very motivate to try and raise the necessary funds for the survey.  Land security is essential for such long-term investments in the environment and community as tree-planting.

 We’re also in the final stages of constructing a ‘press machine’ for the production of organic seedling containers.  The material of choice in the tropics for raising seedlings is polyethylene, a relatively expensive and wasteful external resource.  To produce an alternative we are adapting a design provided by the Legacy Foundation, originally intended for the production of a charcoal substitute.  The ‘press’ is a simple manually operated machine that compresses mixed organic waste into a mold, and by experimenting with different mold sets and mixes we hope to come up with something suitable for raising seedlings in.  If each community nursery were provided with a ‘press’ they could reduce their ecological footprint and increase their self-sufficiency not only in terms of seedling containers but also in the production of a charcoal substitute for local households.

The next post will include photos of the ‘press’, but in the meantime those interested can check out the Legacy Foudation’s website.  http://www.legacyfound.org/

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Hello again! I am happy to report that after two months of traveling, I arrived safely on Pemba Island yesterday morning. The journey itself, from Bombay to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, was fraught with some mystery sickness and a few surprise delays and missed connections.  Safe to say, I was happy to see Zanzibar when I arrived.  While in Zanzibar, I had a brief  crash course in Swahili and a few spectacular swimming sessions before leaving for Pemba. I had the opportunity to stay briefly with Akmed and Fatma and their beautiful children (watoto), Lilham and Saada. They arranged for me to enter Pemba via the “back door” on a small cargo ship that was delivering  fuel for the island’s generator in Wesha.  Contrary to what you may think, the overnight journey on the cargo ship was great. I was greeted by a friendly crew  and the most beautiful display of stars I’ve seen in years.

Yesterday, soon after I arrived, I met Mbarouk for the first time in person. He had brought Daimen and Estelle along for our long anticipated reunion.  In a flurry of embraces and unrestrained excitement  we exchanged laughs outside a stall serving octopus soup. After some introductions and a few stories, I loaded my bags into the back of the bright white pickup they had brought.

We wasted no time in getting right to the business of planting trees. We drove nearby to a school and collected the waiting students and headed to the coast to collect, and plant some Mangrove trees. Mangroves  are essential to the coastal stability of the island (preventing erosion) and provide habitat for many fish and other creatures. It is also an important fuel for making charcoal, and as such is commonly cut down.  We spent a great morning  planting with the students and MICA members in thick muck along the tidal river/bay. We were also joined by a reporter, a friend of Mbarouks who is putting together a story for a local Tanzanian television station on the mainland. She filmed the event while I snapped a few photos.  All in All a great way to start kick start my time here in Pemba; planting trees with students and friends. 

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We visited the village of Gando and the land given to Community Forests Pemba for the Pemba Sustainability Institute (PSI). We wanted to involve the community and hear their questions and concerns. The main concern was that currently farmers are using this government owned land to grow cassava . The building of an education site would mean they might lose the ability to farm there, and thus, they were initially opposed.

Lush Greenery on Gando Site

Viewing these problems as opportunities, Daimen and I have begun to brainstorm on how we can involve the community to create a win-win situation. Our main idea was to have demonstration plots, where interested local farmers can come and practice advanced agriculture techniques, harvest the profits, and actually have greater land tenure than they do currently. These demonstration plots will then become examples of working advanced agriculture techniques for students at the PSI.

Daimen Adressing Gando Community

Meeting Under Mango Tree

 We also discussed with the community about how they can become involved, and how the education site would be of great value to this rural community. A Pemba Sustainability Institute committee was proposed, so that locals of Gando would have rights as stakeholders in the project.
What is important now is to get these ideas across, not only to the locals of Gando, but to all the supporters of the PSI.  Gando will be the first to benefit from the project, and their experiences and education will provide the foundation for educating students from across Pemba and further abroad once the institute is established.

Gando Sheha, Elders, and Community Members

“I think the future of conservation lies in getting the cooperation, understanding, and participation of the local people. If we do not, then we will surely fail”.
Costa Mlay, past head of the Wildlife Division of Tanzania’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, speaking on converting land to game reserves.

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Following up on a meeting with the Sheha of Uwandani, Mbarouk, Estelle, and I visited the community recently.  Mbarouk has been working to educate the community members on seedling propagation for some time now, and their experience growing Casuarina from seed is evident in their verdant nursery.  When we arrived a group was cleaning and planting mango seeds to use as rootstock for grafting, indicating that the community is more than ready to experiment with other tree species as well.  This is exciting for Estelle and I as we have identified several multipurpose indigenous species that if planted will greatly increase the diversity and yield of community planting sites on Pemba.  We hope Uwandani will be a leading community in this regard.

Uwandani Community Nursery

Preparing mango seeds for planting

The Sheha of Uwandani has indicated that a priority for the community now is to have their land surveyed and officially designated for community management.  Land tenure is a growing concern on Pemba as the island is becoming more attractive to developers and the pressures of unsustainable resource use and climate change are increasing.  Community members expressed specific concerns about hotel development, probably a response to what they have observed on Zanzibar Island in recent years.

Uwandani Community Planting Site

Baobab on Community Planting Site

There is also the existing practice of ‘White Block’ mining, which is the extraction of limestone from open-pit mines for building materials.  This is occurring at the outskirts of the community, in the same region selected for tree-planting, and is seen by community leaders as a necessary but unsustainable  economic activity.  Uwandani is hopeful that community forestry can provide a sustainable alternative to ‘White Block’ mining as well as land security.

'White Block' Mine

Undermined Baobab

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