(Pseudonym: Amani. M. Chungaji) Guardian Tz Sept 2006
Man is thought to have started to use fire to cook with 1.5 million years ago from evidence found in South Africa. Our early ancestors may have been burning there environment, or spreading existing fires long before that. It can not be disputed that man has effected his environment for a very long time, mainly by the use of fire. This man made environment is beneficial to man, but is burning an environmentally sound action for the long term? The debate rages on.
In the mean time here in Tanzania we burn most of our bush and wild pasture every year. It is customary to do so, but is it truly wise. What has scientific study taught us?
Reasons of burning:
· Stimulate new growth with fresh palatable green grass for cattle and wild grazers.
· Reduce internal and external parasites of livestock such as ticks and worms.
· Remove old dead woody grass increasing visibility.
· Clear thick bush and undergrowth increasing the grassland available to grazers.
· Ash from the fire is a short term fertilizer.
· Prevention of larger fires late in the season.
Disadvantages of frequent burning:
· Soil exposed to sun:-
Initially the black color of a burnt area increases the soil temperature substantially. Sunlight burns of organic matter in top layer of soil reducing nutrients needed by plants and creatures (bacteria, nematodes, worms and so on) many of which enrich the soil. Generally the less organic matter in the soil, the less moisture that the soil is able to retain. If the water moves through the soil that can no longer retain it, it will carry off valuable nutrients, a process called leaching of nutrients from the soil.
Sunlight bakes the top layer of soil causing a hard surface the germinating seeds and small creatures find hard to penetrate. This has been shown to reduce plant densities and therefore ground cover.
· Increased sheet and gully soil erosion due to reduced ground cover. Sheet erosion is the result of rain drop impact and this movement of large sheets of soil during heavy rain generally goes un-noticed.
· Research seams to indicate that the most desirable grass species for wild and particularly domestic grazers do not respond well to frequent burning but they are not affected by an occasional burn every four to five years.
· Less cover for animals to hide in, exposing them to predators and scorching sunlight.
I have looked in several books including “Ecology and Field Biology” (Robert Leo Smith), “Managing Protected Areas in the Tropics” (IUCN/UNEP) and many more, but I could not really find anything to encourage us to burn. Almost all of the result of regular burning listed where negative in the short, and especially in the long term.
And yet as we have burnt for ever, and the custom is strong, it is very hard to persuade traditional societies to burn less. It appears to be traditional to blame a bush fire on “anybody but me” as who knows where it may end up if the wind changes. Fires generally are set secretly except where government is involved.
During the dry season, the dry grass that is so often burnt is after all the standing hay that sustains the wild and domestic grazers. Generally they will not thrive and multiply eating it; however it can sustain them until the next rains. This standing hay is a natural fodder bank, if it is burnt off and the rains are late or fail entirely, the grazers will starve.
Logically we should burn after the first rains of the season to ensure immediate re-growth, if we are to burn at all. The experts all recommend burning on a windless late afternoon after the first good rain of the season as the resulting fire will be “cooler” doing less damage to the plants and soil. Under these conditions most fires will burn out in the cool damp night air and not “runaway”.
Some of the worst fires are lit by hunters, poachers and honey gatherers, all of whom gain from burning at the worst time, at the beginning of the dry season. All of those responsible should think about the longer term. The burning will go on always, but it should be done with some forethought. Frequent burning at the wrong time, all agree, will drastically damage the environment. Combined as it is in many areas, with overgrazing, this will cause serious irreversible damage to the environment and reverse the natural succession, resulting in permanent desertification.
Please think before you burn!
Showing posts with label Published article. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Published article. Show all posts
Friday, January 4, 2008
Gassed In Tanzania
(Published in the Guardian May 2006)
The diesel fumes spewed out by traffic on our roads will be the death of me. Not from the eye irritation, lung and throat congestion or cancer that they are known to cause, but because every time I get stuck behind a vehicle discharging these noxious gasses from its exhaust I will do anything to get passed it. Blind corner or not, I risk all to overtake and breath fresh air.
I have no idea if there is any legislation to penalize vehicles that smoke excessively in Tanzania, but there is in the entire first world for a reason. If such legislation exists in Tanzania it is not being enforced. Our Government is not known for ignoring an opportunity to increase its revenue, but in this case it is missing a golden opportunity.
Perhaps enforcing vehicle emissions limitations could be said to harm the transport industry, however stopping and fining or impounding vehicles that are violating emissions regulations would surely be none discriminatory, and affect everybody equally. Precious fossil fuels would be saved. Dark smoke poring from trucks and busses exhausts is a recognized sign of an inefficient engine not burning all of the diesel being injected into its cylinders. If blue smoke is seen billowing out from an exhaust it indicates that the engine is burning engine oil, even stronger evidence of a tired and expensive engine to run.
Fixing these problems is possible, and requiring them to be fixed would make all of those mechanics and spare part salesmen very happy, again good for the economy.
It is the duty of a government to ensure that its citizens are not harmed by the excesses of this industrial age. Business will not self regulate its environmental abuse with its profit margin as the bottom line. The purpose of democratic Government is to keep the naturally greedy private and business sector in line, preventing abuses of our environment.
On the internet I found exhaust emissions testing equipment starting at around five million Tanzanian schillings. I believe he police, trained to use this equipment, could very quickly recuperate that expense if three such roadside mobile units were set up in Tanzania.
Just think of the good that they could do to save all of our lungs, preventing respiratory problems us and our children, rich or poor.
By Amani A. Chungaji
The diesel fumes spewed out by traffic on our roads will be the death of me. Not from the eye irritation, lung and throat congestion or cancer that they are known to cause, but because every time I get stuck behind a vehicle discharging these noxious gasses from its exhaust I will do anything to get passed it. Blind corner or not, I risk all to overtake and breath fresh air.
I have no idea if there is any legislation to penalize vehicles that smoke excessively in Tanzania, but there is in the entire first world for a reason. If such legislation exists in Tanzania it is not being enforced. Our Government is not known for ignoring an opportunity to increase its revenue, but in this case it is missing a golden opportunity.
Perhaps enforcing vehicle emissions limitations could be said to harm the transport industry, however stopping and fining or impounding vehicles that are violating emissions regulations would surely be none discriminatory, and affect everybody equally. Precious fossil fuels would be saved. Dark smoke poring from trucks and busses exhausts is a recognized sign of an inefficient engine not burning all of the diesel being injected into its cylinders. If blue smoke is seen billowing out from an exhaust it indicates that the engine is burning engine oil, even stronger evidence of a tired and expensive engine to run.
Fixing these problems is possible, and requiring them to be fixed would make all of those mechanics and spare part salesmen very happy, again good for the economy.
It is the duty of a government to ensure that its citizens are not harmed by the excesses of this industrial age. Business will not self regulate its environmental abuse with its profit margin as the bottom line. The purpose of democratic Government is to keep the naturally greedy private and business sector in line, preventing abuses of our environment.
On the internet I found exhaust emissions testing equipment starting at around five million Tanzanian schillings. I believe he police, trained to use this equipment, could very quickly recuperate that expense if three such roadside mobile units were set up in Tanzania.
Just think of the good that they could do to save all of our lungs, preventing respiratory problems us and our children, rich or poor.
By Amani A. Chungaji
Thursday, January 3, 2008
A Squandered Heritage
(Published in the Guardian Newspaper 2006)
Tanzania’s new president told a charming tale when he was announcing his new cabinet. A man was seen to be beating his father’s grave every evening. When confronted and asked why, he replied that he was punishing his old man‘s spirit for destroying the families heritage when he was alive.
Every time I drive into Arusha on the Babati road, a route used by most of the countries tourists, I am overcome with anger and become very animated. Usually those accompanying me have then to suffer my ranting for the next half hour.
By the end of every dry season the Merarani/Kisongo area is grazed clean of any grass cover and turned into a dust bowl. The deep fertile soil is being lost at a staggering rate through totally irresponsible agricultural practice. If one is lucky enough to fly into Arusha from the west you will be treated to a view of spectacular soil erosion. Huge washouts cut through the rolling countryside.
As the rains start the dry dusty soil that has been pounded to powder by thousands of hooves is washed away, if it was not blown away by the dry season winds. There is hardly any ground cover left and nothing to hold the soil in place. No wonder the hydro electric dams are silting up.
I was told that pastoralists were encouraged to settle in the area by the government in the nineteen sixties. The noble idea was that civil services could then be provided by the government. Schools, clinics and community projects are not easy to move seasonally.
Much of the area has deep rich fertile volcanic soil. However it has weak structure rendering it particularly susceptible to erosion. This coupled with low rainfall makes the land unsuitable for intensive farming and small scale intensive subsistence farming particularily.The strong pastorralist tradition combined with encouraged crop farming serve to denude this landscape.
The area is well suited to extensive crop farming or ranching, and where well managed has an abundance of the very best grazing. However it is now overpopulated by communities that still hold to the tradition of community ownership of grazing. Now even the most conservation minded farmers find it impossible to keep livestock off their fields. I once tried to help a friend keep livestock from invading his fields at night and had pangas and spears thrown at me for my trouble.
The solution is easy. Better agricultural practices and less livestock. It is a bitter pill to swallow for the communities living off these God given resources of soil and grazing. However their offspring will certainly be attacking their legacy if they do not change. If one is from a poor family, as I am, that had no shamba one tends to regard land as sacred, and seeing it misused is agony. These natural resources are surly a divine gift that we have been given freely to care for. Our very existence is dependant on responsible custodianship of this gift. Those that have a share of it should not ask for more but ask only how to use the gift responsibly.
David Read writes about a compulsory government cattle purchasing scheme in his book “Beating About The Bush”. I was once told of an area near Dodoma where the government banned livestock in order to restore an overgrazed area. Most of the urban settlements in Tanzania are bordered by an overgrazed ring as the new urban population cling on to a pastoralist past.
Tanzania has a tradition of confiscating land that is being underutilized. Perhaps it would be wiser to consider confiscating land that is being abused and over utilized too.
Tanzania’s new president told a charming tale when he was announcing his new cabinet. A man was seen to be beating his father’s grave every evening. When confronted and asked why, he replied that he was punishing his old man‘s spirit for destroying the families heritage when he was alive.
Every time I drive into Arusha on the Babati road, a route used by most of the countries tourists, I am overcome with anger and become very animated. Usually those accompanying me have then to suffer my ranting for the next half hour.
By the end of every dry season the Merarani/Kisongo area is grazed clean of any grass cover and turned into a dust bowl. The deep fertile soil is being lost at a staggering rate through totally irresponsible agricultural practice. If one is lucky enough to fly into Arusha from the west you will be treated to a view of spectacular soil erosion. Huge washouts cut through the rolling countryside.
As the rains start the dry dusty soil that has been pounded to powder by thousands of hooves is washed away, if it was not blown away by the dry season winds. There is hardly any ground cover left and nothing to hold the soil in place. No wonder the hydro electric dams are silting up.
I was told that pastoralists were encouraged to settle in the area by the government in the nineteen sixties. The noble idea was that civil services could then be provided by the government. Schools, clinics and community projects are not easy to move seasonally.
Much of the area has deep rich fertile volcanic soil. However it has weak structure rendering it particularly susceptible to erosion. This coupled with low rainfall makes the land unsuitable for intensive farming and small scale intensive subsistence farming particularily.The strong pastorralist tradition combined with encouraged crop farming serve to denude this landscape.
The area is well suited to extensive crop farming or ranching, and where well managed has an abundance of the very best grazing. However it is now overpopulated by communities that still hold to the tradition of community ownership of grazing. Now even the most conservation minded farmers find it impossible to keep livestock off their fields. I once tried to help a friend keep livestock from invading his fields at night and had pangas and spears thrown at me for my trouble.
The solution is easy. Better agricultural practices and less livestock. It is a bitter pill to swallow for the communities living off these God given resources of soil and grazing. However their offspring will certainly be attacking their legacy if they do not change. If one is from a poor family, as I am, that had no shamba one tends to regard land as sacred, and seeing it misused is agony. These natural resources are surly a divine gift that we have been given freely to care for. Our very existence is dependant on responsible custodianship of this gift. Those that have a share of it should not ask for more but ask only how to use the gift responsibly.
David Read writes about a compulsory government cattle purchasing scheme in his book “Beating About The Bush”. I was once told of an area near Dodoma where the government banned livestock in order to restore an overgrazed area. Most of the urban settlements in Tanzania are bordered by an overgrazed ring as the new urban population cling on to a pastoralist past.
Tanzania has a tradition of confiscating land that is being underutilized. Perhaps it would be wiser to consider confiscating land that is being abused and over utilized too.
Sport hunting in Tanzania
(Published in a Mexican Magazine in 2004)
Tanzania is one of the last few true unfenced and unmanaged wildernesses in Africa. Recently I attended a talk by a world-renowned expert on Lion, and was surprised to here that one third of the worlds remaining wild lion are to be found in Tanzania. The real surprise was that this famous conservationist was there to logically explain why he and his colleagues will now support controlled trophy hunting of lion when it is ethically and fairly executed. Forgive the pun! Lion in Tanzania kill more than two hundred people annually and the repercussions of these deaths normally lead to entire prides being poisoned. In areas where lions are regularly hunted for sport man-eaters are less common. The killing of mature male lion of six years and over, by sport hunters, dose not effect the lion population but ensures that the lion will have a healthy respect for people.
It has also been proved that fifteen percent of most wildlife populations can be culled without effecting the natural population fluctuations and it is believed that the increased turn over within the population renders it more vigorous and healthy. Although I have no scientific proof of this, years of watching Tanzanian wildlife in its natural environment has proved this to me beyond any doubt.
If a hunter is looking for either an easy or a cheap hunt do not look in Tanzania. This is not the ranch hunting of South Africa where the government fees are minimal and the game often managed and thick on the ground. Tanzania has approximately one third of its total land area protected in one ore more of the following ways:
National Parks include the incredible Serengeti. The only activities permitted in the National Parks are scientific research and photographic tourism. Tanzania will soon have at least ten National parks and more are planed. Several are large enough to be reasonably sized European countries. The majority of the National Parks are very under utilized at present. There is one Conservation Area, the Ngorongoro, which is also a world heritage sight. This is a failing experiment in the co-habitation of people and wildlife as the once pastoral Maasai are now tuning to agriculture and have effectively cut off the famous crater from the rest of the ecosystem. However the Ngorongoro will always remain a must see. Game Reserves that include the famous Selous Game Reserve, the larges in the world, include many of the prime hunting areas. They are offered the same protected status as the National Parks but sport trophy hunting is allowed and in most cases no photographic tourism is permitted. Forestry Reserves cover vast areas of commercially important woodland and vital green water catchments. Many of the rural communities have large traditional grazing areas that contain wildlife to varying degrees. These communities will only tolerate the presence of the animals, some dangerous and all competing with or feeding on their domestic stock, if they produce revenue for the community. These areas are either Wildlife Management Areas or Game Controlled Areas.
All wildlife belongs to the national government and the government controls the rights to wildlife. There is no prevision for private ownership of wildlife in Tanzania at present. Much of the country including all of the protected areas baring the National Parks and the Conservation Area are divided into Hunting Blocks that vary in size depending on the wildlife abundance of the area. These blocks are then leased for a five-year period to sport trophy hunting companies. Each block is allocated a quota by the Division Wildlife for the available species according to their abundance.
The hunting season starts on the first of July and finishes on the last day of December. This is generally the dry season however the rains starts in November and many of the southern and central Tanzanian hunting blocks are inaccessible in November and December. The best time to hunt is often as the rains start however most hunters seem to want to come at the beginning of the season.
Tanzania can be generally divided into two distanced biomes. The Northern third is Acacia savannah and the rest is variations of Miombo woodland interspersed with huge seasonal swamps and occasional mountain cloud forest. This variation produces variation in fauna too and most hunts, if time allows, are divided between at least two biomes to allow for a varied bag. On a lucky twenty-one day hunt as many as eighteen species can be attained with more available. The only animals that are excluded from the hunting list are the Giraffe as it is the national animal of Tanzania, Rhino, Cheetah and Wild Dog. Lion, Leopard, Elephant and Buffalo are among the most desirable species hunted here.
Hunts licences are issued for 7,14, 16 or 21 day hunts and only certain animals are available depending on the duration of the licence. Lion and leopard can only be hunted on a 21 day licence as with several other species. There are hunting companies to fit all tastes and Mexican and Spaniards are among the most regular hunting visitors to Tanzania. Some of my most enjoyable hunts have been with clients and friends from both countries.
Sport Trophy Hunting is a vital conservation tool, helping to ensure the survival of Tanzania’s threatened fauna and flora. In fact visiting Tanzania on a hunting safari is in my opinion the best way to contribute to conserving Tanzania’s incredible wildlife heritage. I was once part of the anti-hunting lobby until I saw through my naivety. I am now the best and most effective sort of a conservationist, the hunting conservationist.
Tanzania is one of the last few true unfenced and unmanaged wildernesses in Africa. Recently I attended a talk by a world-renowned expert on Lion, and was surprised to here that one third of the worlds remaining wild lion are to be found in Tanzania. The real surprise was that this famous conservationist was there to logically explain why he and his colleagues will now support controlled trophy hunting of lion when it is ethically and fairly executed. Forgive the pun! Lion in Tanzania kill more than two hundred people annually and the repercussions of these deaths normally lead to entire prides being poisoned. In areas where lions are regularly hunted for sport man-eaters are less common. The killing of mature male lion of six years and over, by sport hunters, dose not effect the lion population but ensures that the lion will have a healthy respect for people.
It has also been proved that fifteen percent of most wildlife populations can be culled without effecting the natural population fluctuations and it is believed that the increased turn over within the population renders it more vigorous and healthy. Although I have no scientific proof of this, years of watching Tanzanian wildlife in its natural environment has proved this to me beyond any doubt.
If a hunter is looking for either an easy or a cheap hunt do not look in Tanzania. This is not the ranch hunting of South Africa where the government fees are minimal and the game often managed and thick on the ground. Tanzania has approximately one third of its total land area protected in one ore more of the following ways:
National Parks include the incredible Serengeti. The only activities permitted in the National Parks are scientific research and photographic tourism. Tanzania will soon have at least ten National parks and more are planed. Several are large enough to be reasonably sized European countries. The majority of the National Parks are very under utilized at present. There is one Conservation Area, the Ngorongoro, which is also a world heritage sight. This is a failing experiment in the co-habitation of people and wildlife as the once pastoral Maasai are now tuning to agriculture and have effectively cut off the famous crater from the rest of the ecosystem. However the Ngorongoro will always remain a must see. Game Reserves that include the famous Selous Game Reserve, the larges in the world, include many of the prime hunting areas. They are offered the same protected status as the National Parks but sport trophy hunting is allowed and in most cases no photographic tourism is permitted. Forestry Reserves cover vast areas of commercially important woodland and vital green water catchments. Many of the rural communities have large traditional grazing areas that contain wildlife to varying degrees. These communities will only tolerate the presence of the animals, some dangerous and all competing with or feeding on their domestic stock, if they produce revenue for the community. These areas are either Wildlife Management Areas or Game Controlled Areas.
All wildlife belongs to the national government and the government controls the rights to wildlife. There is no prevision for private ownership of wildlife in Tanzania at present. Much of the country including all of the protected areas baring the National Parks and the Conservation Area are divided into Hunting Blocks that vary in size depending on the wildlife abundance of the area. These blocks are then leased for a five-year period to sport trophy hunting companies. Each block is allocated a quota by the Division Wildlife for the available species according to their abundance.
The hunting season starts on the first of July and finishes on the last day of December. This is generally the dry season however the rains starts in November and many of the southern and central Tanzanian hunting blocks are inaccessible in November and December. The best time to hunt is often as the rains start however most hunters seem to want to come at the beginning of the season.
Tanzania can be generally divided into two distanced biomes. The Northern third is Acacia savannah and the rest is variations of Miombo woodland interspersed with huge seasonal swamps and occasional mountain cloud forest. This variation produces variation in fauna too and most hunts, if time allows, are divided between at least two biomes to allow for a varied bag. On a lucky twenty-one day hunt as many as eighteen species can be attained with more available. The only animals that are excluded from the hunting list are the Giraffe as it is the national animal of Tanzania, Rhino, Cheetah and Wild Dog. Lion, Leopard, Elephant and Buffalo are among the most desirable species hunted here.
Hunts licences are issued for 7,14, 16 or 21 day hunts and only certain animals are available depending on the duration of the licence. Lion and leopard can only be hunted on a 21 day licence as with several other species. There are hunting companies to fit all tastes and Mexican and Spaniards are among the most regular hunting visitors to Tanzania. Some of my most enjoyable hunts have been with clients and friends from both countries.
Sport Trophy Hunting is a vital conservation tool, helping to ensure the survival of Tanzania’s threatened fauna and flora. In fact visiting Tanzania on a hunting safari is in my opinion the best way to contribute to conserving Tanzania’s incredible wildlife heritage. I was once part of the anti-hunting lobby until I saw through my naivety. I am now the best and most effective sort of a conservationist, the hunting conservationist.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
