|
Our Projects in Tanzania
Sebastian has been working for over 10 years to help preserve the African Blackwood , also known as the Mpingo, which is an endangered species. Excellent is helping preserve the African Blackwood by providing a local self-help group, the Mpingo Women's Group, with seedling bags and tools. We have also donated some beehives to generate extra income for the group. In addition, seedling bags and tools have been provided for the Kifura Community Nursery, which plants trees in the National Park tropical forest. Excellent is also supporting the Makonde Carvings and Handicrafts Group, which is working hard to plant Blackwoods in a local government plot, secured by Sebastian Chuwa. The group works with local villagers, planting Mpingo and firewood trees. Excellent is helping terrace the plot and build barrages to improve water supplies. The goal is to plant 15,000 Mpingo trees in the next two to three years.
He lives with his wife, Elizabeth, and four children on the southern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain. As a boy, growing up in the ancestral home he still lives in, Sebastian couldn't see the top of the mountain; it was obscured by towering Blackwood trees. But now, the summit is clearly visible. The trees have receded, providing a tangible reminder that the days of the African Blackwood may be numbered unless vital conservation work is carried out. Sebastian founded the ABCP in 1996, with James Harris, an ornamental turner from Texas, in the United States. His life up until that point had prepared him well for the role. Sebastian was born in 1954 in the town of Moshi. Inspired by his herbalist father's love of the environment, Sebastian studied wildlife management and gained a certificate in Wildlife Management from the College of African Wildlife Management/Mweka-Moshi in 1974 before going to work as a research botanist/conservationist at the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority. He also studied herbarium techniques at the University of Dar es Salaam and received an International Diploma in Botany from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, England, in 1990. Sebastian has been constantly active in initiating projects to protect the local environment of Mount Kilimanjaro. He has won international awards for his work, including the Spirit of the Land Award, awarded in 2002 during the Olympic ceremonies in Salt Lake City, USA, and the 2002 Rolex Awards for Enterprise. In addition, he was awarded a grant from the Charles A and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation in 2001. Click here for more on Sebastian at the ABCP web site.
Blackwood is perhaps best known worldwide as a material for making wind instruments, such as oboes and clarinets, but it has many other uses. The tree, also known as Mpingo, the Tree of Music, Ebony and Dalbergia Melanoxylon, is used by the Makonde people of southern Tanzania to make intricately beautiful two-tone carvings. The texture, density, stability and finish of Mpingo wood make it popular with ornamental turners worldwide. It is used to make a range of wooden products such as chess pieces, walking sticks, carved figures and knife handles. It is also used for fuel, as a remedy for snake bites and food poisoning, and provides fodder for migrating wildlife. In addition, it is a good fertiliser. Its roots support a kind of bacteria that fixes nitrogen in the soil, making it more fertile. It is estimated that less than 3 million African Blackwoods remain in the whole of Africa and 20,000 are felled in Tanzania every year. The tree is an endangered species because of its popularity as a material for making woodwind instruments, because of forests being cleared for farming, and because the tree takes 60 to 100 years to grow to maturity and not enough new trees are being planted. For more on our work with trees, click here. |
Excellent is involved in a number of programmes in Tanzania, supporting the work of 
Sebastian Chuwa, a botanist and environmentalist, from Tanzania, has long been concerned about the dwindling number of Mpingos, and has spent over 10 years trying to conserve them.