Survey-based Analysis for Proximate Anthropogenic Driving Factors of Forest Landscape Degradation: The Case of Kilimanjaro World Heritage Site, Tanzania

Abstract

Protecting tropical forests from degradation is a critical challenge for implementing institutional instruments, including the World Heritage Convention (WHC) and strategic policies for forest protection in the Global South. Identifying and addressing proximate anthropogenic causes are important steps to support the effective implementation of institutional instruments. Our study, therefore, investigated the proximate anthropogenic driving factors of forest degradation in the Kilimanjaro World Heritage Sites (WHS) to support WHC and strategic policies for forest protection and natural heritage sustainability. We used surveys of experts and residents to generate data to identify direct anthropogenic driving factors and analyze forestry and agricultural activities, the level of tourism, and bush burning/wildfire activities as proximate anthropogenic driving factors of forest degradation. Our key findings showed that direct anthropogenic factors are mostly attributed to agricultural activities, beekeeping and honey harvesting, and charcoal production. Other factors include wildfire/bush burning, illegal logging, tourism activities, infrastructural developments, and the introduction of exotic plant species. Also, the findings showed that the level of forestry activities on the site is high, and most of the people have no access to productive (community) forests. Additionally, our findings showed that the levels of agricultural activities on the site and accessibility to agricultural lands are low and very low, respectively. Furthermore, our findings showed that the level of tourism activities on the site is high, and bush burning (wildfire) on the site is attributed to tourism activities and park rangers. The study findings are crucial to support decision-making processes on implementing the WHC and other strategic policies for forest protection and natural heritage sustainability in WHS across the Global South

Comparing Spatial Determinants of Forest Landscape Degradation based on Experts’ Perceptions and GIS Analysis: The Case of Kilimanjaro World Heritage Site, Tanzania

“…The montane forest, which is the primary forest that serves as the buffer zone, is another outstanding universal value and integrity feature of the site that was included to the site in 2005 to protect the forest from degradation due to human activities (UNESCO, 2021;IUCN, 2020). In the Kilimanjaro WHS, anthropogenic factors such as tourism activities, agricultural activities, wildfire, insufficient land availability in local communities, poverty in local communities, illegal logging, charcoal production, Bees keeping and honey harvesting, as well as natural factors such as topography are generally associated to forest degradation (IUCN, 2020;Enoguanbhor et al, 2022a;Enoguanbhor et al, 2023b). Such determinants/drivers may pose threats to the protection of the montane forest that serves not just only as a buffer zone of the WHS but also a habitat for various wildlife species (UNESCO, 2021; IUCN, 2020).…”