By Guardian Reporter
Tanzania is losing 50,000 wild animals annually due to poaching, President Jakaya Kikwete has revealed. The President said the number was too big and threatened the sustainability of the country\’s wildlife resources.
“We must halt this trend, otherwise we will have no Serengeti or Ngorongoro,“ Kikwete said during a fundraising dinner organised by the Wildlife Conservation Foundation of Tanzania (WCFT) in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday evening.
He said the government would consolidate efforts to support conservation of wildlife, which holds the key to economic growth and is a source of livelihood for the rural folk.
“It is important to consolidate our efforts of supporting conservation of wildlife resources for the benefit not only of the present generation, but also posterity,“ he said.
He said the vast area set aside for wildlife conservation demanded more resources than what was currently available as the government alone could not adequately manage wildlife without support of the private sector and non-governmental organisations.
President Kikwete assured stakeholders in the wildlife sector that the government was carefully working out modalities that would not disrupt the already set marketing basis or cause any uncalled for negative effects to any company that has been operating smoothly.
Speaking at the function, Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism Shamsa Mwangunga said in spite of the great commitment of setting aside large chunks of land for wildlife conservation, the sector faced management challenges, including poaching and encroachment of conservation areas.
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