Category Archives: Issue 84

THREATENED TOADS MULTIPLY

Posted on by
Reply

The Kihansi spray toads (featured in an earlier issue of TA) which are regarded as a threatened species, and which were taken to the US in 2002 have multiplied from the original 72 to 216 in zoos in New York and Ohio and San Diego. Plans are now being made for them to return to Kihansi and for the possible establishment of a domestic breeding facility there. The government initiated project was assisted by World Bank funding.’ The toads might prove useful in future with the growth of biotechnology, especially in the pharmaceutical industries –Guardian.

TANZANIA IN THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Posted on by
Reply

In reviewing the probable future of the East African Community in the Kenyan THE NATION (March 26) Gitau Warigi concentrated on Tanzania’s new leader. Extracts: ‘Kikwete has started off doing some sensible things, like cracking down on crime and police corruption. He has also ruffled his country’s male establishment by appointing a host of women to powerful government positions. For me, Kikwete’s main problem is that he is a populist. The worry is whether he will allow this populism to play havoc with sensible governance. Most of the extravagant manna he promised during his presidential campaign is clearly not something poor Tanzania can afford right now. This populism could turn problematic in other ways. There is a powerful political and business lobby in Tanzania, which takes it as its calling to raise red flags about Kenya and its presumed designs to suffocate its neighbours economically. Continue reading →

MISCELLANY

Posted on by
Reply

President Jakaya Kikwete has appointed Dr Abdulkadir Shareef, former High Commissioner in London, as Coordinator of the ‘Brand Tanzania Initiative’. Dr Shareef, who was the President’s deputy when he was Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation in the previous government, will spearhead efforts to promote Tanzania abroad as a preferred tourism and investment destination. Under the Initiative, which will be implemented through the President’s Office, views on what should be done to sell Tanzania will be collected and forwarded to policy makers.

Continue reading →

REVIEWS

Posted on by
Reply

Edited by John Cooper-Poole (UK) and Marion Doro (USA)

BLUEPRINT 2050: SUSTAINING THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT IN MAINLAND TANZANIA AND ZANZIBAR. Edited by Jack Ruitenbeck, Indumathie Hewasam and Magnus Ngoile. Published by the World Bank, 1818 H Street NW Washington, DC. ISBN 0-8213-6213-6.

The special nature of Tanzanian marine life has most recently been brought to the attention of newspaper readers in the UK through the re-discovery of the coelacanth, a fish that was thought to have been extinct for at least the last 70 million years. In January 2006, The Observer ran an article on the regular appearance of these strange fish – which have no backbone, and sport four limb-like appendages- in nets in shallow waters off the Tanzanian coast. The implication of the article was that these rare and endangered fish are being driven into shallow water by deep water trawling in the coelacanth’s offshore habitat.

Like elsewhere in the world, Tanzania’s marine ecosystem is coming under increasing, and unprecedented risks. Threats include over-exploitation (of, for example, deep sea habitats like that of the coelacanth, but also of resources closer to shore: mangroves, lobster and coral); destructive fishing methods (dynamiting, poisoning), industrial and domestic pollution; potential unregulated tourism development and global climate change. Continue reading →