Bauxite mining in Mount Shengena : The forests are disappearing under spoil heaps The land surrounding Chome in northern Tanzania is drying up. The illegal exploitation in Mount Shengena, at which bottom the village is located, is to blame for that. A dubious company is mining for bauxite with giant excavators – and destroys the water source of the entire region. Help the residents to save their land Mt Shengena is covered by dense forests. They are the livelihood of the surrounding villages, home to rare animal and plant species and surround the Chome Forest Reserve. Most importantly however, they provide water for the entire Same district – until now. On the ridge, the trees had to give way to bare red soil. A dubious company with changing names, currently called Willy Enterprise LTD, is mining for bauxite here. Large trucks transport the red raw material for aluminum into the valley. For this purpose only, a street has been carved into the mountain. This in turn facilitates illegal poachers and loggers to gain access to the fertile forest. The raw material is being brought to the neighboring Kenya and from there, is shipped to Asia. The entire region is threatened to dry up if there is no more water flowing from the well. Agriculture would then be impossible. Even now, farmers are complaining of increasingly poor harvests. Their livelihood is threatened by the exploitation. The bauxite-company is performing their work illegally – without the consent of the residents to whom the land belongs, according to Tanzanian law – referring to a so-called contract which is full of forged signatures and vague wording. Since June 2012, the company is also violating a ban imposed by the government which was introduced to stop the mining. The exploitation however, continues. The inhabitants are convinced that only because of corruption all this can continue. Some of them formed a protest group, but without any help, they are powerless against a company that pays a bribe for silence. “We trust in God, as we cannot afford a lawyer”, they say. Help the inhabitants to defend themselves against the destruction of their land and we thanks for Mohispac Foundation for their efforts incooperation with us to save .( envaya.org/mof/projects)
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 14:39:17 +0000