Kilwa District Coastal Forests (7013)
Tanzania, Africa

Site overview

KBA status: confirmed

Year of last assessment: 2001

National site name: Kilwa District Coastal Forests

Central coordinates: Latitude: -9.0000, Longitude: 39.0000

System: terrestrial

Elevation (m): 100 to 540

Area of KBA (km²): 1886.46112

Protected area coverage (%): 92.86

KBA classification: Global/Regional TBD

Legacy site: Yes

Site details

Site description: The coastal lowlands south of the Rufiji river are characterized by low-lying hills over a sandstone base with poor quality soils. The natural vegetation ranges from mangrove and coastal thicket through coastal woodland to extensive areas of Brachystegia woodland. In the wetter valleys and along some east-facing escarpments there are patches of closed-canopy coastal forest. The following 15 Forest Reserves are listed for Kilwa District, of which only three are known ornithogically, the remainder are included only provisionally: Kisangi (310 ha), Kitope Hill (3,378 ha), Malehi (38,850 ha), Mangrove-Kilwa (13,995 ha), Mbinga Kimanji (1,874 ha), Mitarure (60,484 ha), Mitundumbea (8,547 ha), Nampekeso–Naminangu (600 ha), Ngarama North (39,628 ha), Ngarama South (22,603 ha), Pindiro (11,795 ha), Rondondo-Kilwa (381 ha), Rungo (22,586 ha), Tongomba New (2,509 ha) and Tongomba Old (308 ha).

Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance because it meets one or more previously established criteria and thresholds for identifying sites of biodiversity importance (including Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, and Key Biodiversity Areas)

Additional biodiversity: See Box and Table 3 for key species. Only Ngarama North, Ngarama South and Pindiro have been investigated for their avifauna. Circaetus fasciolatus and Anthreptes reichenowi are known to occur while Zoothera guttata may be present from November–May, but data are lacking. Raptors recorded from the forests included Aquila wahlbergi, Hieraaetus ayresii, Stephanoaetus coronatus and Aviceda cuculoides as well as migrant Pernis apivorus, Falco amurensis and Falco concolor. Both Tauraco livingstonii and Musophaga porphyreolopha occur and Cercococcyx montanus may be a locally common breeding species. Merops boehmi and Neafrapus boehmi were recorded almost daily during surveys in 1993, the former is indicative of riparian habitat within the miombo belt, the latter of open woodland. Coastal forest birds as Phyllastrephus strepitans, P. debilis and P. flavostriatus are present as are Cercotrichas quadrivirgata and Neocossyphus rufus. Non-bird biodiversity: Loxodonta africana (EN) utilize the three forests investigated so far and probably most of the others. Packs of Lycaon pictus (EN) are known from the general area and probably utilize the larger woodland reserves.

Habitats

Land use: forestry | water management

IUCN Habitat	Coverage %	Habitat detail
Shrubland	46
Forest	52

Threats

Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: More survey work is required to evaluate the biodiversity value and current status of most of the forests in Kilwa. Logging (presumably illegal) of the remaining mature mvule Chlorophora excelsa trees has been intensive in the last decade. Fire is reportedly only a local problem and, as yet, agricultural encroachment is not the problem it has become in areas close to population centres. Much of the area adjacent to the Forest Reserves is suitable for commercial plantations of mvule. Such plantations, and other conservation-based development programmes, similar to those proposed for Lindi District (TZ051), the Mkonde plateau (TZ053) and East Usambara (IBA TZ070), would help preserve and enhance biodiversity and provide long-term employment for the local communities.

Additional information