But, in the very same breath, he would quote statistical and other details on the plunder to which Tanzanian forests are subjected gruesome enough to make one see the pleas by some of our experts as cries in the wilderness hardly anyone heeds.
Now, Dr Kilahama is the former director of the Forestry and Beekeeping division in the Natural Resources and Tourism ministry, and he really knows his onions when it comes to speaking on the importance of conserving forests and wildlife resources. His remarks just cannot be taken for granted.
He spoke authoritatively on the issue at a retreat the Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa) hosted in Morogoro in early June this year for scores of editors and other senior media practitioners.
The widely acclaimed and much-quoted conservation expert fed the journalists on what might be easily dismissed as well-known information – and not revelations or new information.
This would include remarks that forest, woodland and wildlife resources are important natural assets commonly recognised thanks to their contribution to social and economic development, specifically water supply, food security, ecotourism as well as health and other social services.
There would also be talk of the decisive link between the resources and environmental sustainability, soil and water conservation, agricultural production, livestock development as well as social or cultural values.
These natural resources are a crucial endowment in that their very existence earns both the government and the nation much-needed revenue. Is it not as paradoxical as it is tragic, then, that one sees so little evidence of readiness or willingness to protect our forests and woodlands?
Yes, we have always been treated to pronouncements promising severe legal action against anyone encroaching upon forests and woodlands, resources known to have invaluable environmental values such as enhancement of water supply.
Logically, it would be suicidal to invade catchment forests threaten water supply and electricity generation potential such as by establishing human settlements or putting up industrial plants.
Experts have always described these resources as the natural food hubs for human beings and wildlife alike, and very rightly so. So, what is to beat food security as a national priority – anywhere on the globe? Of course, nothing.
That granted, why are we Tanzanians not moving as a joint force with a common purpose in the face of the wanton pillage of our forests and woodlands we have witnessed for decades running and on which the media both Tanzanian and foreign have kept focusing?
Dr Kilahama and numerous other forestry experts have long identified the challenges we are bound to continue facing as we move to put an end to this plunder, one being that most of our people still rely on farming and livestock grazing systems that are far from sustainable and environment-friendly.
Meanwhile, illegal logging, ever-rising demand for charcoal often blamed on ‘poverty’ and lack of better fuel options, intermittent eruptions of wild fires, and the half-hearted nature of tree-planting efforts do not help matters – as climate change continues to wreak havoc.
We need to reflect a little longer and more seriously on the precarious situation the world is in and decide to inject more political will and public understanding into the implementation of initiatives calculated to protect the environment more effectively by ensuring the safety and regeneration of our forests and woodlands.
It is upon us to work for our survival and development by heeding what the experts tell us about the danger ahead or dig our own graves by deciding that the experts and whatever they tell us can go to hell.
_0.jpg?itok=QU87XW8D){kind=tracking}
.jpeg?itok=vCj6bCRe)
