Direct and Environmental Uses of Mangrove Resources on Kilwa Island, Southern Swahili Coast, Tanzania

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  • スワヒリ海岸南部タンザニア・キルワ島におけるマングローブ資源の直接利用と環境利用
  • スワヒリ カイガン ナンブ タンザニア キルワトウ ニ オケル マングローブ シゲン ノ チョクセツ リヨウ ト カンキョウ リヨウ

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Abstract

The objectives of this paper are (1) to show how the people of Kilwa Island, located off the southern Swahili Coast, Tanzania, make use of mangrove resources by direct use and environmental use; and (2) to consider how a harmonious coexistence between humans and the natural environment might be achieved and sustained in this maritime society with otherwise limited living space and resources. The multiple roles of the mangrove resources as materials, occupational spaces, and a medium for the formation of regional societies on Kilwa Island are clarified from the perspectives of direct and environmental uses. Kilwa Island, once an influential Islamic kingdom, is now home to a small village. It is surrounded by two distinct seas: an inland sea with mangroves and the open sea fringed with coral reefs. Its maritime environments can be divided into three ecological sea zones. Ecozone 1 is the inland sea covered with mangroves. Ecozone 2 is the open sea that is fringed with coral reefs, and Ecozone 3 is the intermediate region between ecozones 1 and 2. Ecozone 1 is the most satisfactory place to live on Kilwa Island, and historically, its shallow seas enabled the inhabitants of the former Kilwa Kingdom to defend themselves against enemies from across the Indian Ocean. People on Kilwa Island have long lived close to the mangrove inland sea. Seven kinds of direct use (house-building materials, boat-building materials, fishing-gear materials, firewood, medicine, fodder, and toys) and five kinds of environmental use (fishing grounds, sea transportation routes, salt panning, beekeeping grounds, wind and wave breaks) are discussed in this paper. The relationship between direct and environmental uses is delicately balanced because immoderate mangrove pole logging destroys the environment, but prohibition of logging on conservation grounds leads to difficulties in the lives of the local people. Although the balance is tenuous, the mangrove environments in the Kilwa coastal region have not been destroyed by the local people’s daily use. This may be due to the low population density of the southern coastal regions, including Kilwa (12 people/km2), and the stagnant economic conditions of the region. Another key factor in the sustainable use of mangrove resources is that local people understand the importance of mangroves and possess valuable local knowledge about them; therefore, they treat mangroves with care. The local community in the Kilwa coastal region has developed through the use of sea routes in the mangrove inland sea. Based on shared values of Islam and relationships of reciprocity, exchange of products and information, and mutual help between relatives and friends, a regional society has been established since, and possibly even before, the Kilwa Kingdom era. Mangrove resources provide countless benefits to members of the Swahili maritime society, whose living space and natural resources are limited. To ensure a sustainable future, consideration must be given to the historical meaning of mangroves on the Swahili Coast and the appropriate management and use of mangrove resources to cope with increasing human pressure on the maritime environment.

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