THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA
MINISTRY OF NATURAL
RESOURCES AND TOURISM
Thirty nine (39)
years ago in 1974, the Government of Tanzania, through its Ministry of Natural
Resources and Tourism and through Government Notice No. 269 and in line with
its now world-renowned and acclaimed Conservation Policy and in accordance with
the historical Policy position that all Land is a National Resource, declared
through Government Gazette that 4,000 square kilometers in the Loliondo Area in
Arusha Region would be re-classified as Loliondo Game Controlled Area for
purely wildlife protection.
Effectively, this
made Loliondo Game Controlled Area part of the Tanzania’s Protected Area (PA)
Network which covers 24 percent of the country’s total land surface. This is
one of the highest commitments to wildlife protection anywhere in the world and
as mentioned above was made consciously for protection of wildlife and for the
benefit of all human kind.
Tanzania’s
Protected Area Network includes all the 15 National Parks (NP) and Ngorongoro
Conservation Area (NCA), both of which are set aside specifically for
non-consumptive use of wildlife resources, 28 Game Reserves (GRs) and 44 Game
Controlled Areas (GCAs) of which Loliondo GCA is one of them.
Game Reserves and
Game Controlled Areas are for consumptive utilization of wildlife such as sport
hunting. However, Section 17 of the Wildlife Conservation Act No. 5 of 2009
restricts human activities such as settlements and livestock grazing in these
areas.
However, as
population has increased and pressures on land have grown greater in recent
years in the surrounding areas, the Government has felt it necessary and
recognized its primary responsibility of providing land for people in this
area, most of whom are landless and whose lives are therefore highly
vulnerable.
It was in
recognition of this situation and in meeting its primary responsibilities that
the Government of Tanzania recently made a decision to de-gazette 2,500 square
kilometers of land, out of the gazetted 4,000 square kilometers, to allow local
inhabitants of Loliondo area to freely utilize that land for their own
community development.
It was also decided
that the remaining 1,500 square kilometers of land be retained as Game
Controlled Area for continued protection of the wildlife and the environment
for the benefit of the present and future generations of humankind.
The Government took
this decision with the understanding that environment conservation is as
important for eco-system protection as it is for community livelihood and
community development.
On 26th
of March, this year, therefore, Hon. Khamis Sued Kagasheki, Minister for
Natural Resources and Tourism, using powers invested into him under Wildlife
Conservation Act No. 5 of 2009, Section 16 (4) announced this Government
position partly also as effort by Government to resolve a land use conflict
that has existed in Loliondo Game Controlled Area for the past 20 years.
In his
announcement, the Minister made it clear that the Government took that decision
to provide land to the growing landless population in the area.
In announcing the
Government decision, Minister Kagasheki emphasized powers given to him by law
to review Game Controlled Areas for the purpose of ascertaining continuation of
control of such areas bearing in mind that the1,500 square kilometres retained
by Government are significantly important to the entire Serengeti and
Ngorongoro ecosystem.
Among other reasons,
these 1,500 square kilometers are a crucial breeding area for wildlife, a
corridor for iconic great migration of wildlife in particular for millions of
wildebeest and a critical water catchment area.
It is therefore a
gross and indeed a malicious misrepresentation of facts for a section of people
both in and outside of Loliondo Game Controlled Area to claim that the
Government of Tanzania was grabbing land from the Loliondo local communities.
Who is grabbing land from whom?
First, these people
have been living in the area illegally for many years because this land was
never allocated to them under any Government arrangement. However, for very
compassionate reasons the Government has allowed them to continue living there
for all these years. Second, this land has always remained Government land
throughout all those years.
The conceivable
logic here is that the Government of Tanzania has made unique history of
land-grabbing from itself to provide for its citizens in this case. This is a
very laudable action and not something for which the Government of Tanzania
should take all the bashing which has gone viral on social networks.
What the Government
of Tanzania has now done is in fact to provide 62.7 percent of this land of the
Loliondo Game Controlled Area to local
communities for present and future use and out of Government realization of its
responsibilities to provide for its citizens. Surely, no Government in world,
can be blamed for meeting its responsibilities to such high levels.
[END]
Hon. Khamis Kagasheki
MINISTER
MINISTRY OF NATURAL
RESOURCES AND TOURISM
7th April 2013
Email: minister@mnrt.go.tz
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