The area where Friends of Lake Tanganyika are reforesting lies in the surrounding of Mahale Mountain National Park. Here garden forests are to be re-established, which will contribute to the food security of the population as well as to the regeneration of the ecosystem.
Mount Nkungwe rises up to 2,500 meters on its peninsula above Lake Tanganyika. It is covered with large forest areas with miombo woodland, mountain meadows and various forms of tropical rainforest. In addition to the particularly rich bird life, one of the largest chimpanzee populations lives here.
At the same time, the region repeatedly experiences outbreaks of violence with serious humanitarian consequences. The cycle of poverty, hunger and environmental degradation is accelerated in particular by the rapidly growing population and the effects of climate change. Deforestation, over-exploitation of soils and lake, mining and pollution threaten the ecosystems – and thus also the livelihood of the people.
In their projects, the NGO Friends of Lake Tanganyika combine work for a sound environment with the establishment of an appropriate livelihood for the people in the project region. As an agroforestry system, the “forest gardens” create a bridge between utilization and renaturation. Fruit trees, native trees, timber and crops are planted. As part of the One Crew | One Tree project, Panterito is participating by planting 1,000 trees:
The grassroots NGO Friends of Lake Tanganyika (FOLT) was founded in 2012 and is based just north of the planting area in Kigoma. It grew out of community initiatives and serves as a platform for solving ecological and social problems. As a result, the NGO’s work covers many areas: From clean energy to sustainable agriculture and fisheries to WASH, health care and education. The central concern is to break the vicious circles and provide help for sustainable improvement. FOLT´s Garden Forest Project is in the 5th year now.
The seedlings are grown in the communities themselves. FOLT helps to establish nurseries in the villages. For our plantation, guava, papaya, banana, avocado, oil palm, as well as Maesopsi emnii (Umbrella Tree) and Acacia polyacantha as a natural fence (Polyacantha = the many-thorned one) were cultivated.
This woodlot is one year old. Gmelina arborea grows quickly, has a branchless trunk and an expansive crown. The juicy fruits are bitter-sweet and the wood is used, for example, for furniture or as construction timber. The root and bark can also be used pharmacologically.
This plantation is already two years old. FOLT conducts annual monitoring, checking the development of the stands and providing professional and technical assistance to farmers as necessary. The average survival rate of the nearly 300,000 trees in the 2020 planting was a very solid 83%.
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