Wednesday December 16, 2009
Local News

Buffalo herds fall by 80 pc in Serengeti



PETER TEMBA in Moshi, 15th December 2009


BUFFALO population in the western side of the Serengeti National Park has fallen by 80 per cent from 70,000 in 1980 to 40,000 to-date.

The head of outreach programme department at the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), Mr Ahmed Mbugi said here yesterday the elephant population declined from 2,500 to 500 within the period under review.

Mr Mbugi was presenting a paper titled ‘Community Conservation Services (CCS): Its Benefits and Challenges,’ to media editors and senior journalists who were attending a one-day workshop organised by TANAPA.

He said the rhino population in the same area had also dropped from 1,000 to less than 20 animals, saying following the drop in animal population, the authority decided to involve local communities adjacent to National Parks in conservation services through a participatory approach.


Mr Mbugi said CCS was an outreach programme of TANAPA that was extended to adjacent communities with a focus on local people as well as village and district governments.

The programme was launched in 1988 as a pilot project under the ‘Neighbour as Partner’ supported by the African Wildlife Foundation in three villages on the eastern borders of Serengeti National Park and later introduced in all 15 National Parks under TANAPA, he said.

According to Mr Mbugi, some of the objectives of the programme were to improve relationship between the parks and local communities as well as to ensure that the interests of TANAPA were represented at all levels and to facilitate information dissemination to the villagers living near the national parks.

He also revealed that under the Support to Community Initiated Projects, funds allocated to projects were based on the 7.5 per cent of the park’s operational budget and a community contributed 30 per cent of total project costs, consisting of local materials such as bricks, sand, stones, water and supervision.

“Under benefit sharing programme, TANAPA spent 17 bn/- to support development projects for communities living adjacent to the national parks from 1992 / 1993 to 2008 / 2009 fiscal years,” he told the workshop participants.

He said some of the achievements of CCS included establishment of amicable relationship between park employees and local communities and establishment of clubs related to conservation and environmental education that have resulted into better understanding of the natural resources.

quote:

BUFFALO population in the western side of the Serengeti National Park has fallen by 80 per cent from 70,000 in 1980 to 40,000 to-date.

70,000 down to 40,000 is actually 43% decrease, I guess they are using African math or just trying to go for a bigger headline.

Ahhhhh, black majority and tribal wisdom at work here. That many hunted legitimately would have given them several million dollars to buy cattle and sheep.

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by David Culpepper:

quote:

BUFFALO population in the western side of the Serengeti National Park has fallen by 80 per cent from 70,000 in 1980 to 40,000 to-date.

70,000 down to 40,000 is actually 43% decrease, I guess they are using African math or just trying to go for a bigger headline.

You beat me to that one!

80% is much more dramatic!

Brett

Kathi, or anyone else,

Do you have the figures/stats for the Selous during the same period of time?

Thanks

Kiss the rhino goodbye. There's no saving it.

quote:

Originally posted by jetdrvr:
Kiss the rhino goodbye. There's no saving it.

I'll wager a bet against you on that: Just give me a 'white minority rule' in that country and I'll show you how quickly we can reverse the decline!

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

Government sanctioned poaching what???? Perish the thought!

Brett

I think the next "white minority rule" is going to be in the U.S. according to USA Today, starting in 2050. The rhino will probably be long gone by then. If I'm lucky I'll be with the rhino.

Of course, the 80% may be correct and the remaing number is actually 14,000.

Kathi, can you clear this up for us?