ARUSHA, Tanzania – Thousands of people in northern Tanzania have joined forces in conserving endangered wildlife species particularly those located in the Lake Natron ecosystem. Lake Natron is spectacularly rich in biodiversity, natural beauty and environmental value, but in recent years, it has become the target for poachers. “We have seen the increasing poaching incidences in this area and the only way is to join our conservation efforts and the only way is to boost the entire ecosystem into a Wildlife Management Area (WMA),” Lekson Lengoi Kirushwa, one of village leaders said. He said nearly 200,000 people in 32 villages have agreed to transform the area into WMA, and said: “We have reached a very advanced stage in making this a reality ... very soon our organization will be operational.” Kirushwa said the initiative would improve the livelihoods of people living in the Lake Natron ecosystem. “We believe that among other benefits include availability of employment opportunities as well as beefing up villages’ incomes compared to the past. “From what I know, once the WMA becomes operational, every village will be assured of getting nearly 3,000 U.S. dollars per year from the total amount paid by investor as revenue and other revenue collections,” he said. “To us, this is a new way of encouraging people to get into conservation,” he said. Longido is one of the drought-stricken districts in Arusha, which leads in charcoal business as well as poaching incidents. Stephen Laizer, Longido District’s Wildlife officer, said the WMA will be announced by the central government soon.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 12:00:02 +0000