Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas and Territories in Tanzania (ICCA)

Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas and Territories project (ICCA) is funded by UNDP through IUCN.  In Tanzania, the project is implemented by Tanzania Natural Resource Forum (TNRF).

The overall objective of this project is to strengthen and support ICCAs communities to effectively engage in the management and conservation of the identified ICCAs, through establishment of a national ICCA database, documentation and publication of ICCAs situation in Tanzania that will inform and increase its recognition national-wide.

Implementation status and Approaches:

To realize the goals of this project TNRF managed to implement the following activities;

• Conduct assessment study of key Indigenous Community Conserved Areas, including

Pastoralist, agriculturalists and hunters’- gatherers who have acquired and preserved territories in Tanzania. The purpose of the assessment was to identify new and existing ICCA and come up with a database of existing and potential ICCAs in the country with the identified needs and challenges for selected ICCA.

• Validation workshop

Following the assessment study, TNRF organized a workshop which brought together partners and stakeholders to validate the database of identified ICCAs in Tanzania, such as; SULEDO Forest Community, Angai Forest, Ntambo Land Holding - Matengo Highlands, OLENGAPA Joint Village Land Use Plan, Nyumba Nitu Natural Forest, Chambogo Forest, Duru-Haitemba Forest, Emboreet Tourism Concession Area, Klein’s Camp, Mgori Forest, Mmeta Sacred Grove, Selela Forest and Terat Conservation Easement.

• Show case  four(4) selected ICCAs in Tanzania, namely; SULEDO and Ngapapa, Olkitikiti and Lerug

 In Kiteto district, Enguserosambu community forest in Ngorongoro District and Matengo in Mbinga District, through shot films of interviews with focal people from the ICCAs.

Footage/photos of the past and current state, Landscapes, wide overview of sites (ICCAs) and medium was covered and produced in 5-20 min shot clips to each ICCAs and have been used to make a series of short TV program and social media posts.

• Recent call for proposal

The Global Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas and Territories Support Initiative (ICCA GSI) in collaboration with the GEF Small Grants Programme through TNRF announced a call for proposal which intended to supports territories and areas which are conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities around the world by supporting trusted members of ICCAs, NGOs, CBOs and FBOs working and supporting ICCAs in Tanzania to implement community-based projects that focus on five(5) focal Areas; 1.Sustainable conservation of nature and socio-cultural heritage, 2.Enhancement of sustainable livelihoods, 3.Improvement of quality and vitality of ICCA governance, 4.Improvement of the self-strengthening process of the ICCAs to enable indigenous Peoples and local communities to increase their participation in the development and policy dialogue, 5.Gender equality and women empowerment in the ICCAs.

TNRF as the recognized national ICCA catalyst organization that through this initiative strengthens and support ICCAs members, partners and communities to effectively engage in the management and conservation of the ICCAs in Tanzania, was commissioned to find and assess partners to accomplish the project objectives.

The reasons behind these initiatives in relation to policy practices is to influence more support from policy makers in the conservation of local community natural resources.