 |
 |
|
|||||
|
Issue 00564 |
April 25 - May 1, 2009 |
issn 0856 - 9135 |
||||
|
|||||||||||
|
Front Page 3 |
|
Opposition to soda ash project wins
global praise By Arusha Times Correspondent The Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST) has won several global awards for its constistent campaign against the soda ash project on Lake Natron. One of the awards was made by Birdlife International during last year's World Conference on the protection of birds and their habitats. Lota Melamari, WCST executive officer said the society has continued to draw much support from global, regional and local conservation groups for its opposition to the project. He told the Arusha chapter members of the society that the society was against construction of a soda ash processing plant there because of the anticipated ecological risks. He said the proposed plant in the area was likely to threaten the habitat of endangered lesser flamingo bird species and consequently affecting the lucrative tourism industry. "We will continue to convince the Government to abandon the project for the national interests" he insisted during WCST's branch meeting. Mr. Melamari said the campaign against the project near the lake by conservation pressure groups and the scientific community has garnered much support from the political leaders. He said Lake Natron was an important breeding ground for lesser flamingo and that the proposed plant was likely to alter the hydrology of the lake, compromising it as the aquatic birds' natural habitat. "Lake Natron is the only breeding site for the flamingos in eastern Africa, accounting for 75 per cent of the global population." he said. Conservation bodies and scientists, he added, are not the only people against the soda ash plant. Tourism stakeholders as well as the local people have also expressed their reservations. An Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report presented to the technical advisory committee of the National Environment Management Council in 2007 apparently opposed the plan. "Most experts concurred that that the project will entail a significant degree of environmental risks in the longer term," he pointed out. Mr. Melamari, himself a wildlife expert and former director general of the Tanzania National Parks, said lesser flamingos were not only endemic to the area but globally among the most endangered birds. The 700-square kilometre shallow and highly alkaline lake was in 2001 designated a Ramsar site, joining 1,720 other wetlands of international importance in the world. The lake, lying in the Great Rift Valley northwest of Arusha and near the Kenyan border, is unique mostly as a breeding ground for the migratory birds, he added. The Government through the National Development Corporation (NDC) has planned to construct a plant to process soda ash near the lake as a joint venture with Tata Company of India. The proposed plant has divided political leaders and other officials both within and outside the Government down the middle. Since the multi-million dollar project was opposed by stakeholders when an impact assessment report was presented to NEMC, the Government has not made clear its position on the matter. During her visit to the area early last year, the minister of State in the Vice President's Office Dr. Batilda Buriani admitted that the decision to go ahead with the project or not lay with environmental experts. She said if implemented the project would offer direct employment to hundreds of people and indirectly to many more besides improving transport infrastructure to the remote area. However, it had become unpopular among conservation experts and environmental activities both within and outside the country and that the Government was still weighing the options. Available statistics indicate that the Indian investors were to inject $ 320m to the project through which 500,000 tonnes of soda ash would be produced annually. The factory site, initially planned to be located at Wosiwosi on the eastern shores of the lake, was to occupied 1.5 square kilometres. Two years ago the Indian firm said it was pulling out of the project because of opposition, mainly from conservation activists in East Africa and beyond. However, recently NDC said it would go on with the project by opting for 'alternative ways' to minimise impact of the factory to the area's ecology. Ngorongoro MP Saning'o Ole Telele was once quoted saying the project was not likely to benefit the local pastoralists living in the vast and semi-arid Ngorongoro and Longido districts in Arusha region. He proposed to parliamentary committee on natural resources and tourism which visited the area that the planned factory should be set up in another site and not within the fragile lake's shores.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
