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Hadzabe tribe ecosystem under serious threat
2006-09-04 09:29:04
By Ludger Kasumuni
The ecosystem in which the Hadzabe people live is under threat due to increased human activities.
However, the Hadzabe, a surviving relic of the hunter-gatherers in Tanzania are not aware that their territory has been leased out to a tourist hunting firm.
They only learnt from journalists that their habitat in lower Yaeda area in Lake Eyasi basin, Mbulu District, Manyara Region, had been leased.
Interviewed last Friday, University of Dar es Salaam Institute of Resource Assessment (IRA) Director Prof Pius Yanda,said a research proposal on the ecosystem of the Hadzabe around Lake Eyasi basin has been proposed.
Prof Yanda said one area of their study would focus on the relationship between the Hadzabe population and the changing ecosystem.
’We are planning to have an in-depth study on environmental management of Lake Eyasi basin. Part of our study will focus on the relationship between the Hadzabe and the changing ecosystem,’ he said.
’There is a need to document the carrying capacity of this area and how the inhabitants have been coping with the deteriorating ecosystem,’ he added.
Prof Yanda also said although a number of studies had been conducted in the Rift Valley Lakes and wetlands of northern Tanzania, including Lake Eyasi basin, there were still a lot of issues which had not been studied adequately.
He listed other areas of research as the establishment of the magnitude of environmental degradation and its effects on the ecosystem and the magnitude of pollution caused by poor farming methods.
He also said the effects of siltation in the wetlands on the ecosystem and the effects of agro-chemicals on the biodiversity and ecosystem were supposed to be established.
Prof Yanda said IRA was looking for donors to finance the research project.
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