Journal of Sustainable Forestry 2019
Information on land use and cover changes (LUCC) is important for
planning of conservation and development and thus ensure forest
sustainability. The current paper assesses LUCC for the whole of the
mainland Tanzania. The analyses were done using land use and cover
maps covering the whole of mainland Tanzania for 1995 and 2010. For
1995, forest, bushland, grassland, cultivation and other land use and
cover (built up areas, bare land, etc.) covered 43.5%, 19.8%, 23.5%,
11.2%, and 2.0% of the study area, respectively. For 2010, the same
land use and cover classes covered 38.0%, 14.5%, 6.9%, 36.5%, and 4.1%
of the study area, respectively. The annual rate of deforestation was
320,067 ha, which is equivalent to 0.9%. Bushland and grassland were
lost at 313,745 and 969,982 ha/year, respectively. Most forest was con-
verted to cultivation and least to other land use and cover. In conclusion,
the net changes were deforestation and loss of bushland and grassland
primarily due to expansion of cultivation. Further research on how to
reduce or halt expansion of cultivation may shed light on improving
sustainability of forest, bushland, and grassland in mainland Tanzania.