Trespassers threaten wildlife
management areas
By Thomas Ratsim From The Arusha Times


Babati District Council has been urged to check encroachment by trespassers on the land allocated to Burunge Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in the Mbugwe Division, Babati District.

Dr. Constantine Shayo, Environment Officer in the Office of the Vice President made the call on January 12 when he was officiating the opening of an office building for the community-based Burunge Wildlife Management built at the Mwada Village.

Dr. Shayo, who was accompanied by Mr. Geoffrey Kirenga, Head of Extension Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives and Captain Minja from Wildlife Division Ministry Natural Resource and Tourism said that the leadership of the district council was duty bound to control adverse farming in the highlands, to save Lake Manyara from siltation.

He also decried the rampant cutting of trees and nomadic life of pastoralist communities , which he said were the causes of environmental degradation in the district.

Dr. Shayo also commended US Government for their donation US dollars 25,000 to the Burunge WMA for the construction first phase of the office. He also commended the Washington-based Africa Wildlife Foundation (AWF) for facilitating the construction of the building.

Earlier, the Secretary for Burunge WMA said that his CBO for the last two years had collected about Shs. 139 million from tourist hunting and bed nights fee from the two tourist campsites in the area. He added that 50% of the amount had been disbursed to member villages.

Burunge WMA was established under the 1998 Wildlife Policy of Tanzania which ensures that local communities benefit from revenue accrued from tourism.