Help rescue Tanzania’s elephants

Two nuzzling elephants are facing each other in the savannah Africa’s elephants are a part of our world heritage – they urgently need protection. Photo: flickr/cetp (CC BY-NC 2.0) (© flickr.com cetp (CC BY-NC 2.0))
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10 years ago, around 75,000 elephants roamed Selous – Africa’s second biggest population. Now, there are only 13,000 left. Lack of political will, business projects and mining threaten the nature reserves and the country’s future. Please sign our petition and tell the Tanzanian government to take vigorous action to protect its wildlife.

News and updates Call to action

To: H.E. Jakaya Kikwete, President of Tanzania, Directorate of Presidential Communications

“Sign the petition for protecting the elephants, the Serengeti and other unique nature reserves in Tanzania.”

Read letter

The survival of Tanzania’s elephants is at stake – up-to-date records show that every year, thousands of them are being targeted by poachers for the ivory trade. When the President of Tanzania took office nine years ago, there were still about 75,000 elephants living in Selous.

The government of President Kikwete has taken far too weak a stance against elephant poaching. Furthermore, it is tightly focused on the country's economic development and the exploitation of natural resources in this wildlife paradise.

Plans include uranium mining in Selous and adjacent nature reserves as well as the construction of a highway through the world-famous Serengeti National Park. This arterial road is intended to shorten transportation routes from the interior of the continent to the coast – but it will also disrupt the yearly migration of millions of animals. 

The unspoilt environment of Mwambani Bay on the Indian Ocean is slated to give way to a new export harbor that will threaten the Tanga Coelacanth Marine Park and the rare coelacanths living there. These giant fish are living fossils that have barely changed over the past 400 million years.

A soda ash mining operation is planned for Lake Natron, the main breeding ground for the Lesser Flamingo. The development could wipe out the species’ biggest colony in the world, comprised of 2.5 million birds.

Please sign the petition of Save the Serengeti and Rainforest Rescue addressed to the President of Tanzania – join us in calling for an immediate stop to the planned projects as well as the strict protection of Tanzania’s wildlife. These natural treasures are not the property of any one country, but are a part of our planet's natural heritage.

Back­ground

Previous campaigns on this topic:

Alterations of the borders of the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania, uranium mine:

https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/mailalert/883

News (in German):
http://www.regenwald.org/news/4712/selous-uebergabe-von-58-000-unterschriften-an-die-unesco

Save the Coelacanth Bay

https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/mailalert/861/save-the-coelacanth-bay

 

Website Serengeti Watch
http://www.savetheserengeti.org

Letter

To: H.E. Jakaya Kikwete, President of Tanzania, Directorate of Presidential Communications

Mr President,

Please take this opportunity to take vigorous action to protect your country’s nature and its wildlife by curbing destructive business projects.

We call on you to:
- Take decisive steps to stop the wholesale poaching of elephants. Without action on your part, the days of these magnificent creatures are numbered.
- Establish lasting protection for the Serengeti ecosystem by prohibiting any development that would disrupt major migration routes, including any kind of commercial traffic.
- Adopt an alternative, more southern route around the Serengeti, as was proposed by the German government and the World Bank.
- Establish lasting protection for the Lesser Flamingo's breeding grounds by canceling plans to mine soda ash at Lake Natron.
- Work together with conservationists to protect the Selous Reserve from the mining of uranium and a dam on the Rufiji River, an important water source for the region.
- Ensure that protected maritime areas like the Tanga Coelacanth Marine Park will not be destroyed by new seaports.
- Encourage open debate and vigorously protect the public's right to voice its concerns on matters such as nature conservation and economic development.

Please do everything in your power to prevent economic development from running roughshod over Tanzania's priceless natural treasures. We call on you to change the current course of your government and harmonize the goals of conservation and development. Future generations will thank you for preserving the natural heritage of our planet.

Yours sincerely,

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