THE government has continued transferring people who voluntarily accept to relocate from Ngorongoro Conservation Area to Msomera Village in Tanga Region.
The move is part of government efforts that focus on conserving Ngorongoro areas, one of the world heritage sites.
The area, which was established in 1959 as a multiple land use area, accommodates wildlife that coexists with semi-nomadic Maasai pastoralists practicing traditional livestock grazing.
It includes the spectacular Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest caldera, and Olduvai Gorge, a 14km long deep ravine.
The property has global importance for biodiversity conservation in view of the presence of globally threatened species such as the black Rhino, the density of wildlife inhabiting the Ngorongoro Crater and surrounding areas throughout the year and the annual migration of wildebeest, zebra, Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles and other ungulates into the northern plains.
The area has been subject to extensive archaeological research for over 80 years and has yielded a long sequence of evidence of human evolution and human-environment dynamics, collectively extending over a span of almost four million years to the early modern era.
Top government officials have been urging residents who wish to voluntarily relocate to other areas to come forward and state where they want to go, insisting that the government is ready to provide assistance to them.
For years, Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) which spans vast expanses of highland plains, savanna, savanna woodlands and forests, has been winning accolades from the international community as a unique zone, becoming Africa’s “eighth wonder of the world” and “Africa’s Eden,” to name a few.
However, in recent years, the area has attracted attention of the government and the international community due to an influx of people who move in to set up their homes with some expanding cattle grazing activities, threatening wildlife.
Some reports indicate that some families from outside Ngorongoro area have been shifting to the conservation area, further increasing population, a practice that threatens the existence of world’s largest caldera due to proliferation of human activities.
Understandably, coexistence between human and wild animals is one of the characteristics that makes the area unique in the world but rising human population now raises concern.
There are reports that state that the resident pastoralist population of the area has increased progressively from around 8,700 in 1966 to 20,000 at the time of inscription on the world heritage list (1979), before shooting up to 93,136 inhabitants in 2017. The projection is that this will reach 161,000 inhabitants by the year 2027.
Experts in wildlife and tourism says corridors in and out of the Crater itself are being disintegrated because of growth in human population, particularly from the Crater itself towards Serengeti.
They call for closer engagement with local communities in exploring alternative livelihood solutions.
As Tanzanians, we have the civic duty to protect NCA for present and future generations. Ngorongoro should never die.
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