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[ Disaster ] Plans to build a highway through Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park will destroy one of the world’s last great wildlife sanctuaries, a group of conservation experts has warned. The scientific journal ‘Nature’ published an article which gathers statements from 27 scientists who are asking for a re-think of the new 50 kilometer (31 mile) road that will bisect the national park causing major disruption for thousands of wildebeests and which they say will cause “environmental disaster.”
– ‘Frankfurt Zoological Society‘
Sadly, the government of Tanzania has approved a major commercial highway across the Serengeti National Park, linking the Lake area Victoria with eastern Tanzania. The decision was made public and even reported in the Tanzanian press.
Construction is expected to begin in 2012.
[ Facts ] The planned highway (in red on the map) will cut across a pristine and remote wilderness area of the Serengeti. It carves a slash across the migration path of millions of animals, (shown by the colored arrows). This is not a track or a road — it’s a high-speed highway for trucks that could eventually reach hundreds a day! 416 large trucks a day could potentially be rumbling through Serengeti. Traffic will inevitably grow more and more frequent, invasive, and damaging as time goes on.
[ Consequences ] If the highway goes ahead, it could potentially halt the famous wildebeest migration which would have dire consequences. The wildebeest migrate in order to find better grazing, which appears after the rains which move around. If the herds cannot follow the rains, hundreds of thousands of wildebeest could potentially die. If the wildebeest numbers are massively reduced, the numbers of big cats and other predators will crash soon after. “If the road prevents the wildebeest reaching the Masai Mara, there will be major implications for the environment there, as well as the communities that rely on tourism” – say the scientists.
click on the map to enlarge
click on the map to enlarge
[ Possible solution ] Scientists say a different route running south of the Serengeti should be considered to preserve the 1.2 million hectare UNESCO World Heritage Site. A southern route around the Serengeti can preserve Tanzania’s greatest tourism asset and spare the devastation of a priceless World Heritage Site. With the help of the world community, Tanzania can find a way to preserve its inheritance, help bring prosperity to its people, and show the world that it still leads the way in conservation.
[ what can you do? ] There is an online petition that you can join in protest to the proposed highway.
Full Article: Nature.com.
(Warning!: It’s a paid site)
