At the World
Heritage Committee (WHC) meeting in June 2011, the Tanzanian government
confirmed that the 53km stretch of road through the Serengeti National Park
would not be paved, and would continue to be managed by TANAPA (the Tanzanian
National Park Authority). It would be continue to be used mainly for tourism
and administrative purposes, which results in a low level of traffic. The
Tanzanian government was also said to be seriously considering construction of
an alternative road running south of the Serengeti.
The BirdLife
Partnership welcomed this statement as the removal of a threat to the world’s
best known national park, which is part of the route of the world’s greatest
mammal migration, involving 1.8 million wildebeest and other antelopes. But since
June 2011, the Tanzanian authorities have been progressing the plans for the
eastern stretch of the Serengeti road, and there have been no clear public
statements about the western stretch of the road. A revised Environmental and
Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) has not been published or submitted to the WHC.
Nor has there been any public statement about an alternative southern route.
BirdLife
understands that some commercial traffic is already passing through the Serengeti National Park. Although some of
the Tanzanian Government communications state that the road will not be
upgraded and will remain a gravel road, at present it is not a gravel road but
a seasonal dirt track, so any change, including gravelling, will in fact amount
to upgrading.
The Serengeti National Park,
a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Important Bird Area, is home to over 450 bird
species including two endemic to Tanzania. It is thought one third
of Africa’s population of Endangered
Rueppell’s Vultures Gyps rueppellii uses the Serengeti ecosystem.
300,000 tourists
visit the Serengeti every year, and tourism is a major foreign exchange earner
for Tanzania.
It would therefore be an economic as well as an environmental mistake to
endanger the Serengeti. Globally, public perceptions would be very negative,
eclipsing the current goodwill and admiration for the many conservation
achievements of Tanzania.
The local communities’ livelihoods base could also be greatly and negatively
impacted.
BirdLife is
concerned that a road across the Serengeti would negatively affect its
biodiversity in a number of ways, but especially through increased road kills
of large mammals and attendant scavengers, including vultures, which are facing
extreme pressure outside Protected Areas. It could also increase the risk
of poaching. Furthermore, the proposed road will pass close to Lake Natron,
by far the most important breeding site for Lesser Flamingos in the world, and
could adversely affect their breeding.
The Wildlife
Conservation Society Tanzania (BirdLife in Tanzania) and the BirdLife
International Partnership recognise the need for Tanzania to upgrade its
transport infrastructure, including the road network, to provide increased
access for local people around the Serengeti National Park.
However, BirdLife
remains concerned that development of the eastern stretch of the road is
proceeding, particularly as this is happening in advance of any studies on an
alternative southern route. This piece-meal approach is likely to lead to
increased future pressure for the section of the road through the Serengeti to
be upgraded.
Transport
solutions must be sustainable and environmental issues should be properly taken
into account in route decisions as is required by both Tanzanian and
international law. BirdLife believes a solution is possible through
strategic planning. A Land Use Plan exercise supported by a Strategic
Environmental Assessment (SEA), with full public consultation, should be
carried out for Northern Tanzania to examine
strategic options for meeting transport needs and for integrating these with
environmental objectives (including biodiversity protection) and the needs of
local people.
BirdLife,
therefore, requests that at its June 2012 meeting, the World Heritage Committee
adopts a decision which:
Urges Tanzania
to set a clear timetable for undertaking Land Use
Plan/Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) processes to examine a
range of potential alternative routes, which could
meet the objectives of the proposed Serengeti Highway
(providing an international transit corridor and better transport
links for local communities) without serious damage to
the World Heritage Site;
Urges Tanzania
to put individual road projects on hold, including plans for any tarmac
roads through migration routes and/or up to the edges of the
National Park, pending completion of the Land Use
Plan/SEA; and
Urges Tanzania
to confirm that it has abandoned plans for upgrading the dirt track road
across the Serengeti National Park (by gravelling or otherwise).
Rueppell’s
Vulture
The Rueppell's Vulture
- Gyps rueppellii - is a large vulture that occurs in central Africa.
The current population is estimated to be in the region of 30,000 and is in
decline due to ongoing loss of habitat and other pressures. They are highly
social, roosting, nesting, and gathering to feed in large flocks. It is
considered to be the world's highest-flying bird, with confirmed evidence of a
flight at an altitude of 11,000 metres (36,100 ft) above sea level.
Description
They are mottled
brown or black overall with a whitish-brown underbelly and thin, dirty-white
fluff covering the head and neck. The base of the neck has a white collar, the
eye is yellow or amber, the crop patch deep chocolate-brown. Sexes are similar.
Call
They grunt, hiss
and chatter at a carcass.
Food
It locates food
entirely by sight, mainly carrion and bone fragments of dead animals.
Breeding
Rueppell’s
griffons breed on cliff faces in colonies, where they lay a single egg on to a
platform of sticks lined with grass. Incubation takes about 55 days and the
parents share the responsibility of caring for the downy grey chick, which
fledges at around 150 days.
Conservation Status – Endangered
This species has
declined severely in parts of its range and overall it is suspected to have
undergone a very rapid decline owing to habitat loss and conversion to
agro-pastoral systems, declines in wild ungulate populations, hunting for
trade, persecution, collision and poisoning. In West Africa, they have been
heavily exploited for use in Black Magic.
Birdwatching
Ask Aves Birding Tours/Safaris/Adventures to
create a tour for you to see these striking vultures.