By Rose Athumani
TANZANIA on Tuesday,
joined other countries across the globe to mark the World Wildlife Day
with a call for all stakeholders including the public to strengthen
efforts in curbing elephant poaching.
The Minister for Tourism and Natural Resources, Mr Lazaro Nyalandu,
told journalists in Dar es Salaam that although Tanzania comes second
after Brazil in the world with the largest number of species, effort is
still needed to protect elephants.
"Tanzania, according to Statistics from the recent World Economy
Forum (WEF), is the second nation globally with the largest number of
wildlife species, after Brazil and it is the first nation in Africa with
largest reserves, but we need to put in more efforts to curb poaching,"
the Minister explained.
He added that in ensuring the nation is in the forefront in
protecting the elephant species, President Jakaya Kikwete in February
last year, participated in a major anti-poaching conference in London
where African leaders pledged their commitment to combat poaching.
In the major anti-poaching conference last year President Kikwete
called upon world leaders and the global community to join forces in
saving the elephant population, stressing that there is every sign that
this elephant species will become extinct in the near future if
deliberate efforts are not taken to protect them.
On Tuesday, Minister Nyalandu said that without the cooperation of
all stakeholders to protect the elephant, poaching will still continue
to be a big challenge.
"We cannot fight this war without the cooperation of all... we ask
all religious leaders to instill in their followers the importance of
protecting wildlife including elephants," he explained.
The Minister commended the government of China for taking the step to
ban imports of elephant ivory products for a period of one year, urging
other countries such as Japan, Thailand and Vietnam to do the same.
"We appreciate the steps taken by the government of China to ban
imports of ivory and we urge other countries to do the same... we are
however urging China to consider increasing the ban to longer periods,"
he added.
He said that the ban by China will help reduce the demand of the
elephant ivory and hence denying market for those dealing in the illegal
trade.
The China State Administration of Forestry declared the ban in a
public notice posted on its official site in which it said the
administration would not handle any import requests.
An unnamed forestry official was quoted in China's local media saying
that authorities hope the ban will be a concrete step to reduce the
demand for African tusks and to protect the wild elephant.
Meanwhile, Nyalandu yesterday received two Land Cruiser Hardtop
Vehicles worth 196m/- from Mantra Tanzania as part of efforts to fight
poaching in the country.
The Managing Director of Mantra Tanzania, Mr Frederick Kibodya, said
his company provided the two vehicles to the Ministry to conduct
surveillance and Patrol to combat poaching.
The Northern Anti- Poaching Squad Commander, Mr Paschal Mrina, said
poaching is a big challenge to the nation, but stressed that with
concerted efforts from all stakeholders the fight against poaching will
be successful.
"The main challenge facing game wardens is working equipments and we
are grateful that these two vehicles will go a long way in helping the
efforts to protect elephants in the country," he noted.
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