- Tanzania is turning to China to learn how to capitalize on forest tourism opportunities
- Delegation of Chinese forest experts visits Tanzania.
- Forest tourism offers benefits, but threatens biodiversity.
To develop forest tourism, the Tanzania Forestry Research Institute (TAFORI), an organization responsible for forest development, has reached out to authorities in China to strengthen its research, conservation and promotion of income-earning opportunities within the natural ecosystem.
Forest tourism can serve to expand the country’s top currency earner, TAFORI said in its appeal to China. In response, China has sent a delegation of forestry experts and the two countries are working to build a botanical garden and conduct research on rare and endangered species that call the East African country home.
Earlier this year, China sent a delegation from Hunan province, which made a special visit and tour of the country’s major forest reserves. The delegation from China issued a report to understand the institution’s mandate and identify areas with potential for scientific cooperation.
Their host, TAFORI Director General, Dr. Revocatus Mushumbusi, led the tour. Introducing the Chinese delegation, he said: “The Institute is focused on conducting research in forestry and beekeeping, preserving natural resource data and developing technologies to improve forest management efficiency. TAFORI aims to cooperate with China in research, innovation and technology transfer.”
TAFORI Director of Forest Research, Dr. Chelestino Balama, reiterated that with China’s support, the institute can expand its work to establishing botanical gardens, conducting joint research on rare plant species and exchanging scientific data that will open up new opportunities.
Jianga Rui, the head of the Chinese delegation and also director of the Hunan Province Forestry Department, was the recipient of the request. He said this maiden trip will help them learn more about Tanzania’s conservation systems and will also allow them to explore joint projects as requested.
The trip is also a diplomatic venture as it will strengthen relations between the two countries as China already benefits from forest tourism. He assured Tanzanian officials that they will speak to the relevant authorities upon their return to China and is confident that the draft agreement they have prepared will pave the way for the start of the requested cooperation.
Forest tourism in China
As the term suggests, forest tourism includes tourism in forest parks. A forest park is defined as ‘a specific forest area with a picturesque forest landscape with an intense historical and cultural heritage for tourism, recreation and scientific, cultural and educational activities.’
In China, it all started in 1982 with the establishment of the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (NFP), which is officially the first designated NFP in China. During the year, both the number of forest tourists and revenue from forest park entrance fees increased by about 20 percent every year, Bixia Chen reports in a report titled “Thirty Years of Forest Tourism in China.”
“The surge in forest tourism is generating impressive revenues and improving the regional economy near the forest parks,” the report reveals.
However, there are challenges that come with this development; “The large number of forest visitors has put great pressure on natural resources,” the report said.
For example, according to the report, tourist facilities built in the protected area pollute the water and have damaged the biological integrity of the forests. “Under the conditions of a lack of appropriate legislation and management by various organizations, forest tourism is in a dilemma as to how to develop in a way that is sustainable and promotes the local economy,” the report warns.
According to a survey by the State Forestry Administration (SFA), the total forest area in China is 175 million hectares, making China only fifth in the world in terms of forest area, after Russia, Brazil, Canada and the United States.
“More than 20 percent of the country is covered by forests and most of China’s forests are natural,” the SFA said.
According to the SFA, a total of 2,458 forest parks and 730 National Forest Parks (NFP) had been approved and established by 2009. The SFA notes that nature tourism in China comprises a very important sub-sector of the tourism industry. Now that China is the most populous country in the world, it can benefit from domestic tourism.
The SFA says appreciation for China’s natural landscape has a long history and tourism in nature reserves has increased faster than other forms of tourism. According to the SFA’s Forest Park Management Office (FPMO), forest park tourists increased by 21.2 percent last year and entrance fee revenue increased by 20.7 percent compared to the previous year.
However, researchers say that in contrast to the large number of forest parks and the rapidly increasing demand for forest tourism, there is little general knowledge about how China achieved this remarkable combination, simply due to the fact that; “relevant literature in English is limited. International researchers do not have access to Chinese-language literature unless they themselves speak fluent written Chinese.”
So having direct cooperation with China itself, as Tanzania is trying to do, is essential for learning and adapting their successful systems.
For him, this is even more the case given the reality that forest tourism poses challenges such as “…the pressing problems of pollution and deteriorating environment resulting from the increasing number of visitors and tourism facilities,” the Chen report warns.
Also read: Africa reminds COP30 that forests fight hunger, poverty and extinction at the same time
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