Community educated on conservation
By Anthony Melele

Residents of Mafia Island attended a special course on conservation conducted by Mafia Island Marine Park (MIMP) to enable them understand the importance of ecological conservation, sustainable use and tapping tourism potential to increase their income. 

The course which was finance by the Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD) was attended by villagers of Baleni, Kungwi and Juani -Mafia who went to Amani Nature Reserve, Tanga to learn how people living near the conservation forests were involved in their conservation. 

The main objective of the Amani visit was to assist the villagers tap some knowledge on forest conservation to enable them use it in the forest reserves found in Mafia Island Marine Park. They were also made to learn how to make nature trails in forests without affecting the ecology. The trails area use by tourists who visit the forests for recreation and at time research.

One of the participants Mr. Juma Segoa said that they witnessed how people are involved in community conservation while they were at Amani adding that, the few professionals who were at Amani could not have managed the forest reserve alone if they had not received cooperation from the villagers. Amani forest reserves have more than 8300 hectares of forest.