Posted on September, 22 2015

On 22nd September 2015 the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism of the United Republic of Tanzania in collaboration with WWF Tanzania commemorated the National Elephant Day.

This year’s commemoration was marked  by stakeholders in the wildlife sector participating in a televised Media forum to discuss strategies to save the remaining Elephants in the country under the theme: 'Time to save the remaining Elephants is Now!’

Objectives of the commemoration were: to sensitize communities on the plight of Elephants in the country; to discuss  details of the negative effects of recent increase in Elephant poaching; provide an opportunity to share important  contributions of wildlife and specifically Elephants in the socio-economic environment of the country in relation to the tourism sector (currently the number one earner of foreign currency) and finally make recommendations for urgent actions to mitigate the poaching scourge.  

The genesis of the  commemoration came  from the 15th meeting of the conference of parties (CoP) for the 'Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - CITES', held in 2010 in Doha, Quatar. At this meeting the 37 major Elephant range states in Africa adopted the ‘African Elephant Action Plan – 2010’ as a strategy and tool to preserve the African elephants.

A year later in 2011, Tanzania developed the ‘Tanzania Elephant Management Plan 2010-2015’ to put into action and operationalize the African Elephant Action Plan.

Tanzania is a major repository of globally significant biodiversity and ranks 2nd in tropical Africa and 14th in the world as well as boasting of having the highest proportions of total terrestrial area under formal protection of any country in the world by allocating more than 30 percent of its land for conservation.

Strategic interventions required include but not limited to: protection of wildlife corridors and dispersal areas; reduce Human- Elephant conflicts and conduct regular elephant surveys. In accomplishing these tasks the Government has entered into partnership with other stakeholders and wildlife institutions including civil society organizations, other government agencies, international organizations NGOs like WWF, the Private sector, religious institutions and the general public.

WWF Tanzania Country Director Dr. Amani Ngusaru said ‘Elephants have great ecological contribution that support the existence of other wildlife, species and humans.’

A number of challenges have been encountered in implementing Elephants protection initiatives which include poaching, drought, inadequate funding and staff, lack of essential equipment/ facilities and lack of communication resulting in poor cooperation among stakeholders.

In addition other challenges are  associated with the high of frequency of wild fires in the forests which destroys forage for wildlife and cause environmental degradation and generally poor infrastructure in most of the protected areas.

To address  the challenges, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism prepared a Strategic Plan 2013 – 2016 which recommended important interventions and strategies including: recruitment of  additional staff (for example in 2014, 430 new recruits were hired and in 2015, the expectation is to employ a total of 500 personnel); increase the participation of various stakeholders including local communities, private sector and civil society organizations as well as international NGOs in antipoaching campaigns plus work on joint antipoaching projects /initiatives with neighboring countries (Cross border collaboration).

Other interventions include; provision of modern tools to Rangers and Wildlife Scouts; increase  conservation education to the citizens and the public; reduce elephant legal hunting quota from 200 to 100; increasingly embrace the use of latest technology to control poaching; strengthen the management of wildlife through regular patrols inside and outside protected areas. Similarly, improve infrastructure, facilities and services for staff in National parks, game reserves and zonal anti poaching units.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism in collaboration with WWF Tanzania are commemorating this year’s  National Elephant Day by making an appeal to citizens to provide any information of any suspected illegal activities within and around any wildlife conservation area  to the Ministry’s Wildlife Division, Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA), Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA), International organizations and / or any police station.

Such information will assist to arrest poachers and all suspects involved in any illegal trade of trophies like ivory, rhino horns, and other live Wildlife or parts including birds, lions, cheetahs and monkeys.

Let us work together and stand up to prevent the destruction of our natural heritage.

Joint Press Release issued by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism