Tanzania’s Proposed Serengeti Highway Threatens Greatest Wildlife Migration on Earth

From Forests.Org

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Action Alert: Tanzania’s Proposed Serengeti Highway Threatens Greatest Wildlife Migration on Earth

Serengeti National Park’s locally and globally significant ecosystem is driven by migration of wildebeest, elephant and zebra, and will be utterly devastated by the plan, as will be local livelihoods and well-being. There is a growing local and international support network protesting the project, and together we should be able to ensure it never commences.

BACKGROUND

The government of Tanzania has approved a major commercial highway across Serengeti National Park. The northern Serengeti – located near the Kenya border – is the most remote and pristine area in the Park’s entire ecosystem. “The road will cause an environmental disaster,” said 27 biodiversity experts this week in the science journal Nature. The planned road slashes across Serengeti’s most important annual migratory route taken by 1.3 million wildebeest – as well as important elephant and zebra migration areas – threatening the last great mass movements of animals on Earth.

The road’s expected 416 large trucks a day would physically block the migration, introduce invasive species, and lead to greater poaching – ultimately killing the migration altogether. Further there will be fragmentation of habitat, alteration of water and soil systems, and increased introduction of animal disease. When the wildebeest migration is blocked, more grass fires are expected, further diminishing the quality of grazing, and likely to make the ecosystem a source of atmospheric CO2.

The northern part of the Serengeti is untouched and should remain so. A safer alternative route proposed by local conservationist can bypass Serengeti altogether to the South and provide more economic benefit for the people of Tanzania. This route can preserve Tanzania’s greatest tourism asset and spare the devastation of Serengeti – a priceless World Heritage Site. With the help of the world community in support of local demands, Tanzania can find a way to preserve its inheritance, protect for all posterity a healthy and intact Serengeti ecosystem, while bringing advancement to its people.

MESSAGE TEXT

Dear President Jakaya Kikwete,

I am writing to express grave concerns with your government’s plans to build a commercial highway across Serengeti National Park. The northern Serengeti is the most remote and pristine area in the Park’s entire ecosystem. Twenty-seven biodiversity experts wrote this week in the science journal Nature that “[t]he road will cause an environmental disaster.” The planned road slashes across the area’s annual migratory route taken by 1.3 million wildebeest – as well as important elephant and zebra migration areas – threatening the last great mass movements of animals on Earth.

Serengeti’s ecosystem is driven by wildlife migration, and claims by government ministers that construction of the road would not disturb the popular annual wildlife migration are simply ridiculous. Hundreds of large trucks a day would physically block the migration, negatively impact soils and water, introduce invasive species, and lead to greater poaching. I urge you to immediately cancel the project, as you look into alternative routes for the road to the South, which do not cross the Serengeti at all. The world is watching and expecting good governance, and for you to find a way to preserve your great country’s natural inheritance and future potential for advancement.

Sincerely,

Eco-Scan: The Serengeti Road Dispute

homo sapiens and their eternal
highways to hell
no regard for animals nor
the trees that they fell
just roads and more roads
the health of the planet
thrown to the side
when there is no more
place to build
then where is man
going to hide?????

Karen Lyons Kalmenson

Related Articles

• Serengeti road threatens vast herds: scientists (cbc.ca)
• New Road Threatens Great Migration (audleyblog.com)