Eastern Miombo woodlands

The Eastern Miombo woodlands are an ecoregion of Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique.

etting

These species-rich savanna ecosystems cover wide areas of the East African Plateau, extending from southern Tanzania to into northern Mozambique and Malawi. The ecoregion covers an area of 483,900 square kilometers (186,800 square miles). It is bounded by the Northern and Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic to the east along the Indian Ocean, and by the Zambezian and Mopane woodlands in the Zambezi lowlands to the southwest, and by Lake Malawi to the west. To the north and northwest, the forested Eastern Arc Mountains separate the Eastern Miombo woodlands from the Southern Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets of central Tanzania.

Flora and fauna

Despite the low rainfall and relatively nutrient-poor soil the woodland is home to many species, including several miombo specialist endemic bird species. The predominant tree is miombo ("Brachystegia" spp.). It also provides food and cover for mammals such as the African Elephant "(Loxodonta africana)", African Wild Dog "(Lycaon pictus)", Sable Antelope "(Hippotragus niger)" and Lichtenstein's Hartebeest "(Sigmoceros lichtensteinii)" (Campbell 1996).

People

These miombo woodlands are also important to the livelihoods of many rural people, who depend on the resources available from the woodland. The wide variety of species provides non-timber products such as fruits, honey, fodder for livestock and fuelwood.

Conservation and threats

Many areas of miombo woodland are still managed in traditional ways, with slash and burn farming systems dominating, but in some areas alternative land management practices are being promoted. One such example is the N'hambita Community Carbon Project in the Sofala province of Mozambique. This was developed as a result of the increasing concern about global climate change, and the recent evolution of carbon markets. These carbon markets are part of the 'Payments for Ecosystem services' (PES) system and in this case finance from the sale of carbon offsets is given for activities which increase carbon sequestration. The N'hambita project was launched in 2003 as a collaboration between the environmental company Envirotrade Ltd. (founded by Robin Birley (businessman)) and the University of Edinburgh (see www.miombo.org.uk and www.envirotrade.co.uk for more information). To date (May 2007) the project has planted 230,000 trees as a combination of agroforestry and woodland restoration, and has over 500 farmers involved who have benefited from the payments and have been encouraged to become involved in other micro-finance initiatives, such as beekeeping and carpentry using miombo tree species planted within the project.

The Plan Vivo (www.planvivo.org) system is used, which was pioneered, and has run successfully in Mexico for over 10 years (www.eccm.uk.com/scolelte/). Plan Vivo is regulated and managed by BioClimate Research & Development (www.brdt.org) and farmers who sign up to the scheme must agree to manage their land according to the Plan Vivo standards.

References and external links

* [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/at/at0706.html Eastern Miombo woodlands (National Geographic)]
* [http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/at/at0706_full.html Eastern Miombo woodlands (World Wildlife Fund)]