| Officials say Tanzania’s image ‘soiled’ | Send to a friend |
| Tuesday, 11 May 2010 09:55 |
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Senior government officials have admitted that Tanzania’s image abroad has been dented by the continued seizure of large quantities of animal trophies in various parts of the world. The indiscriminate killing of animals by poachers was also undermining the country’s conservation efforts, they said. They therefore called for intensified anti-poaching operations involving all law enforcement agencies. Mr Edward Kishe, the acting director general of the Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa), said here that the illegal trade in wild fauna and flora posed a major threat to some of the country’s wildlife resources. He said Tanapa and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism alone cannot adequately protect the wildlife heritage under siege from poachers without collaborating with other law enforcement organs. Statistics from the anti-poaching unit of the Wildlife division indicated that at least ten tonnes of ivory alleged to have originated from Tanzania was seized in the Far East last year alone. Others are an assortment of about 70 species of live reptiles, including tortoises. They were found to have been illegally trafficked to the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Korea among other countries. “This not only demonstrates that large numbers of elephants continue to be poached in the region, but also it is, indeed, seriously undermining our conservation efforts,” he said. Although some of the contraband elephant ivory originated from land-locked states like Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), they left the country through official exits such as airports and ports. Mr Kishe, speaking at a workshop to seek ways of tackling the illegal trafficking of animal products, said there was a likelihood of large consignments of wildlife specimens leaving the country undetected. “Most of these contrabands are smuggled through the sea and airports as cargo. They originate from within the country or as transit shipments,” he said adding that the exercise is facilitated by unethical clearing and forwarding agents. The Lusaka Agreement task force, which was formed in 1994 to fight cross border illegal trade in flora and fauna, organised the meeting at an Arusha hotel. Tanzania is one of the founder members. Mr Bonaventura Midala, an assistant director of wildlife in the ministry, emphasised that fighting wildlife crime was a task that required key players to be equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills. Said he: “It is also an expensive and demanding task that requires pulling together all available resources, good intelligence, cooperation and more purposeful law enforcement operations through the collaboration of law enforcement agencies.” Mr Theotimos Rwegasira, a representative of the Lusaka agreement task force, said between 2007 and last year over 45 tonnes of ivory were seized in various parts of the world. Of this haul, 13 tonnes were reported to have originated in Tanzania. He said while the loss of biodiversity through illegal human activities was a major concern in Africa, the multi-scale nature of the threats has been exacerbated by insufficient human capital and knowledge. Recently, Tanzania was on the spotlight when Cites (Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species) rejected an application to burn 90 tonnes of its ivory stockpiles. The global watchdog against illegal animal trafficking, especially for endangered species, wants the country to burn the elephant tusks worth Sh20 billion. The government has rejected this and only last Friday, the minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ms Shamsa Mwangunga, said it would submit another appeal to Cites to be allowed to sell the stockpile. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
