Monday 8 April 2013

[wanabidii] Government clarifies its decision On Loliondo land provision

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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