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`Illegal immigrants degrading environment in Ngorongoro`
2008-03-25 09:20:23
By Asraji Mvungi, PST, Ngorongoro
Ngorongoro District authorities Arusha Region, have been called upon to institute strict measures against illegal immigrants who stealthily enter the country through the Loliondo Forest Reserve, hence immensely constituting in environmental degradation.
The call was sounded by the Natural Resources and Tourism minister, Shamsa Mwangunga, after she received reports of environmental degradation by illegal immigrants, most of them pastoralists, who ended up settling in the forest during her tour of the district last week.
The report read by the Ngorongoro District Commissioner, Jowika Kasunga, to the minister, said the pastoralists from neighbouring Kenya had been entering the country without following proper channels while others went to the extent of engaging in agricultural activities in unauthorised areas.
``Some of them have started agricultural activities in water sources and animal corridors, which are used for tourism activities, including photographing of various scenes involving unique flora and fauna,`` said Kasunga.
However, he told the minister that his office had started taking measures aimed at arresting the situation despite the myriad of hurdles they were facing from some quarters.
``We have been facing various obstacles in this undertaking as when we try to evict people from the invaded areas, these selfish people go about telling everybody that we do not want them to engage in farming as we want to sell the land to investors. But we are not deterred in this endeavour,`` she said.
Dwelling on the issue, Mwangunga called on the district authorities to fearlessly dislodge all people conducting activities in water sources as they were endangering human life and other living creatures.
``Every one of us knows the significance of water, apart from the splendour of Ngorongoro and its economic advantages accruing from it in respect of tourism and public consumption,`` she said, adding that every body had to make sure the prevailing environment was taken care of.
On the issue of illegal immigrants, many of whom are pastoralists, she said, they had to be made to understand the existing harmonious relations between them and their Tanzanian counterparts.
She also called on the leaders in the area to exercise impartiality in allotting plots to the people in order to avert any misunderstandings.
Most of Ngorongoro District constituting 14,000 square kilometers is used for grazing, apart from a huge chunk of it comprising a forest reserve.
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