The Tanzanian government on Monday announced what it called a strict ban on timber harvesting in the forests around the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.
The Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner (Northern Tanzania), Leonidas Gama told journalists in Dar es Salam that the government’s move was to protect the environment and natural vegetation which are being endangered by woodcutters.
He said the government was concerned about the ongoing environmental degradation in the natural and catchment forests around Africa’s highest mountain and order responsible and effective control mechanisms over illegal timber harvesting in all parts of the mountain.
He warned of tough legal action against those breaching the imposed ban and regulations to safeguard the environment around the mountain which contributes to the beauty of Mount Kilimanjaro, one of Tanzania’s main tourist attractions.
Gama said the police have been instructed to arrest all people found harvesting timber in the area regardless of their position.
He noted that the destruction of the environment around the mountain resulted in decreased water sources putting big pressure on wildlife living in the surrounding habitat.
The factors, most of which are results of population pressure on the surrounding hinterland as well as global warning, have also been blamed for deforestation around the mountainous area.
The Same District Commissioner, Ibrahim Marwa went further to propose an amendment of law that will empower state agencies to shoot sometimes armed harvesters of timber.
Mean while, the Co-ordinator of Sustainable Moshi Programme (SMP), Alex Poteka told a daily local newspaper in Moshi on Monday that environmental problems facing the Moshi municipality in the Kilimanjaro region were a symptomatic of the challenges facing the region and the world as a whole.
Poteka, who is also the head of the Department of Urban Planning and Environment of the Moshi Municipal Council warned that deforestation was disturbing the ecological balance between animals, birds and plants and called on the forest cover to be protected.
He pointed out that the uncontrolled felling of trees was drastically reducing the source of fuel, wood, charcoal, indigenous medicine and pleasant recreational grounds.
Poteka added: “The intensive cultivation of crops on the slopes of the mountain was indicative of increasing pressure by the population on the land which is cleared of its forest resources, causing a gradual destruction to the environment”.
Source African Press Agency
African News from NetNewsPublisher.com
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