CONSERVATION THREATS
Tanzania is one of the 25 poorest countries in the world, and many of its
conservation threats arise from its economic difficulties. Poaching,
deforestation, overgrazing and overfishing are all common ways in which
renewable natural resources are destroyed.
The rate of human population growth is one the fastest in Africa, with an
estimated doubling time of only 19 years. Consequently, human and
agricultural encroachment will have an enormous impact on conservation
efforts.
There are also serious problems developing in the areas of soil erosion and
degradation and decreased soil fertility. Deforestation in the Eastern Arc
Mountains, where 30 per cent of Tanzania's endemic plant species are found,
is of particular concern.
But it is the depletion of Tanzania's elephant and rhino population that is
perhaps the most dramatic threat to conservation today. During the 1980s,
the Government's inadequate funding of the national parks' protection
services led to rampant poaching. The result was an 80 per cent reduction
in the elephant population, which fell to 53,000 individuals, while the
number of black rhino is currently unknown, but could be less than 100.