Planting trees of hope in Tanzania, Africa: The Kwimba Reforestation Project Student Activities Case Study Teacher's Notes Using an atlas as a guide, draw an outline map of Africa. Locate, draw and name the following on the map: Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, Tanzania, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Dar es Salaam, Lake Victoria. Include on your map the approximate latitude and longitude of the Kwimba Reforestation Project (in Tanzania, on the southern shore of Lake Victoria). Use a world map to measure the straight-line distance from the capital city of your state or territory in Australia to the approximate location of the project. On your outline map of Africa, add this information to a direction line from your state or territory. List the ways in which the people of Kwimba rely on trees. Compare the list with the ways in which you rely on trees. Note the similarities and differences between the two lists. Why do you think the case study has been called 'Planting trees of hope?' If the case study did not have a name, and you were a journalist writing an article, what name would you use? Write a brief article summarising the project in your own words. Clarify with your teacher or look up the meanings of each of: 'biophysical environment', 'human environment', 'perception', 'ecological', 'sustainable' and 'development'. 'The project is a good example of ecologically sustainable development'. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Justify your response. Imagine that you live in the Kwimba District of Tanzania and the year is 1990. You are a teacher in the local school and have just discovered that a non-government organisation has been funded by the Australian Government's Overseas Aid Program to start a reforestation project. Your landscape has been badly denuded of trees. You have already experienced other aid agencies coming to your region and having mixed success with reforestation and water projects. List the ways in which you would respond to the news. What questions would you ask before you supported the project? Prepare your questions and the likely responses after: the first information about the project reaches your village the first community meeting with the project leaders the initial planting of trees on communal land the initial planting of trees on private plots the end of the first meeting of the stoves committee. Imagine you are an Australian forester who has worked on the Kwimba project since its beginning. Write a diary entry describing a typical day of your work, concluding with your explanations of why the project has been so successful. Imagine you are a girl or woman living in the Kwimba region and you are being interviewed and taped for a radio show. In what ways has community forestry improved your life and the lives of other women and girls? With a partner, work out (perhaps write) the questions of the interviewer and the answers of the girl or woman. On poster paper, draw a large 'Y' covering the full sheet. (The vertical arm represents the 'past' and the two diverging arms represent the 'preferable future' and the 'probable future'.) In appropriate positions, add these three names. On the vertical arm, write words or phrases to describe the Kwimba region prior to the project. (Take these words or phrases from the 'Case Study' or your wider reading.) At a short distance below the junction write '1990-1992 Phase 1 of KRP'. A little above this point, write '1993- 1998 Phase 2 of KRP'. At the junction of the 'Y', write 'The present'. On the diverging line that you have marked 'Probable future', use words or phrases to describe the events or characteristics of the KRP that are, in your opinion, likely to be the case in the year 2020. On the diverging line that you have marked 'Preferable future' use words or phrases to describe the events or characteristics of the project that you would prefer to happen to the year 2020. As a class, share diagrams. Discuss any observable gap between the 'preferred future' and the 'probable future'. In the opinions of most students, is there a great difference? Why or why not? Your class can help make a sustainable environment by planting and caring for trees in a nearby, creek, park, roadside or the school grounds. Obtain advice from your local Landcare or Tree Care Group, for example The Society for Growing Australian Native Plants. The tree planting should be an ongoing project. Record the changes from one year to the next, for example, height, thickness of trunk, area of the crown (measure the size of the shadow when the sun is directly overhead), and amount of bird-life or animal-life. Work out how you will inform the community about your positive tree-planting activity and encourage their ecologically sustainable activities. Work out who will continue to care for the trees when your class has left the school. Top © Commonwealth of Australia