MEMBERS of Parliament now want review of the law which established the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority arguing that the 60 years old law was both tribal and racist.
“The 1959 Act requires that only ‘native Maasai’ should live within Ngorongoro Conservation Area contrary to the National Constitution which provides for no geographical limits for any Tanzanian who wants to live anywhere within the country,” noted Busega MP, Dr Raphael Chegeni.
Dr Chegeni said hereyesterday that in the wake of increased population in the NCAA, the Maasai natives that the Act once favoured, were reproducing at an alarming rate and they are already overwhelming the conservation area whose population has rocketed from 10,000 in 1959 to over 66,000 this year.
Available statistics indicate that the 8,292 square kilometres NCAA has a human population of over 65,842 people, 136,550, head of cattle and 193,056 goats and sheep. Mr Benard Murunya, the NCAA conservator, stated earlier, that the area can only support a population of 25,000 if it is to remain ecologically stable for many years to come.
Mr Joelson Luhaga Mpina, MP for Kisesa, stated that if the Authority was to be protected, the entire human population should be evicted immediately and leave it as a purely conservation area.
“It is high time that the law governing NCAA should be revised and all human activities including settlement be stopped and the area to be made a national park,” Dr Chegeni maintained.
Ilemela MP, Mr Anthony Diallo was of the view that it was also time that NCAA resources were shared equally nationwide instead of current arrangement that Maasai get a lion’s share of everything in Ngorongoro.
“NCAA pays for their education from primary education to colleges, buy them food during drought, provide their cattle with food and veterinary services and offer them full protection,” stated Diallo, adding that elsewhere people are forced to contribute for fees and classrooms.
Some MPs are more concerned with Ngorongoro eco-system. Last year, UNESCO threatened to delete NCAA from the World Heritage Sites listing because of increased human activity in the area.
“Unless the Act is reviewed the NCAA will cease to exist in five years time because the current law encourages the co-existence between Maasai people, their cattle and wildlife. But the former two are increasingly outnumbering the latter, threatening both conservation and tourism,” observed Mr Job Ndugai, the Chairman of Parliamentary Committee for Environment, Land and Water.
All other MPs supported the idea of removing all human beings from Ngorongoro to allow wildlife and natural growth to thrive in the world heritage site. Mr Elisa Mollel, the MP for Arumeru West and Metui Ole Shaudo, the chairman of Pastoralist Council in Ngorongoro, differed with others insisting that the Maasai had the right to stay.
24 February 2010
20 February 2010
Tanzania`s coffee output may decline 41 pct on drought
Tanzania`s coffee production may fall 41 per cent in the current marketing season after a drought cut yields, said Adolph Kumburu, director general of the state-run Tanzania Coffee Board.
Output in the 12 months through June may decline to 40,000 metric tonnes from 68,000 tonnes last season, Kumburu said in an interview last week in Mombasa, Kenya. The board revised the 2008-09 output up from 62,000 tonnes, he said.
“The coffee industry has been hit hard this season,” Kumburu said, adding “Flowering of the crop was affected by drought that we had in the country last year.” Last June, the board lowered its forecast for this season’s output to 50,000 tonnes from 55,000.
Tanzania, like the rest of East Africa, experienced a prolonged drought in the second half of the year. Replanting is underway, with the goal of increasing output to 100,000 tonnes in 2015, Kumburu said. New varieties begin yielding in 18 months, unlike older varieties that took two years, he said.
“This year we hope to plant 10 million trees, compared with 9 million last year,” Kumburu said. “We’re replanting in the northern region where some trees are as old as 50 years, while in the south we’re opening new fields.”
Tanzania grows both the robusta and arabica varieties in the northwestern Kagera region, while the Kilimanjaro and southern regions predominantly produce arabica, which accounts for 75 per cent of total output.
Tanzania, Africa’s fourth-biggest coffee producer after Ethiopia, Uganda and Ivory Coast, reaps its crop from April through August. The country consumes only 3 per cent of its crop, with the rest exported through a weekly auction and direct sales.
Output in the 12 months through June may decline to 40,000 metric tonnes from 68,000 tonnes last season, Kumburu said in an interview last week in Mombasa, Kenya. The board revised the 2008-09 output up from 62,000 tonnes, he said.
“The coffee industry has been hit hard this season,” Kumburu said, adding “Flowering of the crop was affected by drought that we had in the country last year.” Last June, the board lowered its forecast for this season’s output to 50,000 tonnes from 55,000.
Tanzania, like the rest of East Africa, experienced a prolonged drought in the second half of the year. Replanting is underway, with the goal of increasing output to 100,000 tonnes in 2015, Kumburu said. New varieties begin yielding in 18 months, unlike older varieties that took two years, he said.
“This year we hope to plant 10 million trees, compared with 9 million last year,” Kumburu said. “We’re replanting in the northern region where some trees are as old as 50 years, while in the south we’re opening new fields.”
Tanzania grows both the robusta and arabica varieties in the northwestern Kagera region, while the Kilimanjaro and southern regions predominantly produce arabica, which accounts for 75 per cent of total output.
Tanzania, Africa’s fourth-biggest coffee producer after Ethiopia, Uganda and Ivory Coast, reaps its crop from April through August. The country consumes only 3 per cent of its crop, with the rest exported through a weekly auction and direct sales.
08 February 2010
Dar to host climate change experts conference
CLIMATE-change experts from around the world meet later this month to share the latest knowledge about how communities can reduce their vulnerability, and how government policies can help make it happen.
Delegates at the 4th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change in Dar es Salaam, will include representatives of governmental and inter-governmental agencies, research institutions and non-governmental organisations.
The conference to be held from February 24 to 26 will enable delegates share information about ways communities can adapt to impacts of climate change using approaches such as water harvesting, alternative farming practices, and strategies to reduce the risk from disasters.
The meeting is being organized by the International Institute for Environment and Development, Environmental Protection Management Services (EPMS, Tanzania), the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), and the Ring Alliance.
Special sessions will focus on how communities in urban areas or rural drylands can adapt to climate change impacts such as heat-waves, floods and droughts.
"Climate change is a global problem but its impacts are always local and that means the solutions need to be found," says Dr Hannah Reid, Senior Researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development.
"Communities around the world are already feeling the impacts of climate change and are taking action to reduce their vulnerability.
What works in one setting could help limit impacts in many other places, so it is important that these success stories are analysed, shared and supported by sound policies."
The conference aims to identify good strategies for sharing information within and between vulnerable communities, and will promote the integration of community-based adaptation into national policies and international development programmes.
"Communities are well-placed to drive adaptation projects as they know best what the local challenges are and stand the most to gain from addressing them," says Reid.
"Adaptation to climate change can and must happen at the community level but for this to work it is essential that policymakers and funding agencies understand the benefits of bottom-up approaches and act to support them."
"The sharing of knowledge and adaptation practices from other parts of the world will create awareness in Tanzania and other vulnerable countries to improve adaptation strategies in communities that are at greatest risk from climate change," says Euster Kibona of EPMS.
"The conference will also open up funding opportunities for adaptation projects at the grass roots level."
The conference will be preceded by two days of field visits in areas where communities are practising coping/adaptation activities.
The meeting is being funded by Africa Adapt, the British Council, CARE, Christian Aid, EPMS, FAO (Communication for Sustainable Development Initiative), GTZ, IDRC, IFAD, IIED, OXFAM, Practical Action,
The Rockefeller Foundation as part of their 70 million dollar climate change resilience initiative, the Development Fund (Norway), UNDP, World Food Programme, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Delegates at the 4th International Conference on Community-based Adaptation to Climate Change in Dar es Salaam, will include representatives of governmental and inter-governmental agencies, research institutions and non-governmental organisations.
The conference to be held from February 24 to 26 will enable delegates share information about ways communities can adapt to impacts of climate change using approaches such as water harvesting, alternative farming practices, and strategies to reduce the risk from disasters.
The meeting is being organized by the International Institute for Environment and Development, Environmental Protection Management Services (EPMS, Tanzania), the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), and the Ring Alliance.
Special sessions will focus on how communities in urban areas or rural drylands can adapt to climate change impacts such as heat-waves, floods and droughts.
"Climate change is a global problem but its impacts are always local and that means the solutions need to be found," says Dr Hannah Reid, Senior Researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development.
"Communities around the world are already feeling the impacts of climate change and are taking action to reduce their vulnerability.
What works in one setting could help limit impacts in many other places, so it is important that these success stories are analysed, shared and supported by sound policies."
The conference aims to identify good strategies for sharing information within and between vulnerable communities, and will promote the integration of community-based adaptation into national policies and international development programmes.
"Communities are well-placed to drive adaptation projects as they know best what the local challenges are and stand the most to gain from addressing them," says Reid.
"Adaptation to climate change can and must happen at the community level but for this to work it is essential that policymakers and funding agencies understand the benefits of bottom-up approaches and act to support them."
"The sharing of knowledge and adaptation practices from other parts of the world will create awareness in Tanzania and other vulnerable countries to improve adaptation strategies in communities that are at greatest risk from climate change," says Euster Kibona of EPMS.
"The conference will also open up funding opportunities for adaptation projects at the grass roots level."
The conference will be preceded by two days of field visits in areas where communities are practising coping/adaptation activities.
The meeting is being funded by Africa Adapt, the British Council, CARE, Christian Aid, EPMS, FAO (Communication for Sustainable Development Initiative), GTZ, IDRC, IFAD, IIED, OXFAM, Practical Action,
The Rockefeller Foundation as part of their 70 million dollar climate change resilience initiative, the Development Fund (Norway), UNDP, World Food Programme, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
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