TANZANIA
ASSOCIATION OF TOUR OPERATORS
SPEECH BY WILBARD GEORGE CHAMBULO, THE TATO CHAIRMAN AT THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF INTERNATIONAL MARCH FOR ELEPHANT MARCH ON 4TH
OCTOBER ARUSHA, AICC GROUNDS
Honorable
Minister,
Distinguished
Guests,
Ladies
and Gentlemen.
Thank
you very much for coming all the way to hear what we have to say today. Receive
our warm greetings from Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO). I am
delighted to talk about International March for Elephant, and I am extremely
passionate about saving nature and is always close to my heart.
Honorable
Minister,
The Tanzania Association of Tour Operators
(TATO) in conjunction with The Sparkling Elephant Project (SEP) joins The International March for Elephants
organized by The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) through their ivory campaign and will
be taking place in 15
cities across the globe in the single largest demonstration of awareness for the species.
Honorable
Minister,
The African elephant is doomed to extinction by 2025 if we
do not act. Tanzania will have none left by 2020, possibly earlier at current
rates of loss.
We are losing an estimated 10,000 elephants per annum and it
is estimated we have about 70,000 elephants left down from approximately 106,
000 in 2009 and 200,000 in 1970.
Honorable
Minister,
The loss over time is a complex mix of
habitat loss and reduction in the vast areas needed as rangelands for the
survival of the species (and many other species of wildlife). A growing human
population outside national parks and protected areas & poverty in many of
these areas creates increasing conflict with Wildlife, particularly elephants
however at this time poaching is the single biggest threat to the species.
Honorable
Minister,
In Tanzania and particularly in the
Northern area the industry is the most important and it is true for most people
in our area that “Your job and your livelihood depend on Tourism”; Poaching of
Elephant and Wildlife in general is a threat to Tourism. Tourists come to see wildlife and the
elephant is for the tourist a “must see.” It is also a Keystone species that
creates habitats suitable for many other key species in the ecosystem such as
the herbivores which are prey for the much photographed and sought after BIG
CATS.
Honorable
Minister,
Tourism
earnings A Major contributor to National earnings or GDP
Tourism produces 25% of foreign exchange
earnings and 17.2% of GDP. It could produce much more but if we do not face our
POACHING problem we will have no Tourism
as there will be nothing for Nature based tourism to exist upon.
Honorable
Minister,
The Tourism value chain
Tourism is a direct and indirect income earner
and the beneficiaries are many.
·
Tour operators, Hotels, Guest
houses, Camps, camp sites and Lodges, shops selling artifacts and crafts.
·
The Banking sector and
financial institutions
·
The transport sector, Vehicle
sales , Vehicle body manufacturers
Bus
companies, Shuttle buses, Taxis etc. Tyre factories, suppliers of spares,
importers of fuel, oil and lubricants.
·
The Building Industry, cement
factories and material manufacturers acting as suppliers to the Builders of
lodges, hotels and camps industry.
·
Agricultural products, farmers
and the Food Industry and Breweries and beverage manufacturers.
·
The Government and TRA, local
Govt. taxes, fees and levies.
·
The National Parks, Ngorongoro
Conservation Authority, Game Reserves and protected areas.
Honorable
Minister,
The many thousands engaged somewhere along
the value chain have to eat , need clothes , need food , need entertainment
, a roof over their heads and will
probably contribute to govt. social tax funds that in turn is invested in the economy or used to help provide a safety net at some future time
like retirement or ill health.
BUT
NO
ELEPHANTS AND NO WILDLIFE = NO TOURISM, MEANS NO JOBS, NO TAX revenue.
Therefore the stakeholders in Tourism are many and not least
the government itself. We all have a huge stake in the survival of the Elephant
and our wildlife heritage.
Honorable
Minister,
The Govt. has a policy to alleviate poverty
and has encouraged wildlife conservation. Community based Tourism in areas
outside parks has been recognized & encouraged whereby villages can form
conservancies or WMA’s and private investors are encouraged to invest in
Tourism activities outside protected areas.
Community Based Tourism as a strategy has had a difficult genesis and
the equable sharing of benefits of conserving and utilizing wildlife have yet
to be realized by communities or the private sector encouraged to invest in
conserving wildlife and involving local communities in the Tourism economy.
Honorable
Minister,
Short
Term Solutions
In 1989, our peak period of poaching
through the 1980’s was successfully contained by Operation UHAI and the Total
Ban by CITES on all trade in Ivory and for ten years the elephant population
started recovering.
These measures can be re enacted immediately.
Honorable
Minister,
Longer
Term solutions
TANZANIA
WILDLIFE AUTHORITY “TAWA”
Where the Wild Life Department has failed,
for whatever reasons, a new Wildlife Authority, “TAWA”; which will have a
wider resource base, has a better chance
to halt the serious decline in wildlife. Similarly investment by the private
sector in nature based tourism can succeed in an enabling environment.
However,
the transition from The Wildlife Department to TAWA will take 5 years and WE DO
NOT HAVE 5 years.
Honorable
Minister,
IN
SUMMARY
·
A
major operation to stop poaching ( Operation Uhai 2).
·
Deal
with criminal intermediaries that are involved in the chain from our parks and
protected areas, WMA’s etc to the ports .
·
TOTAL
BAN ON IVORY TRADE-NOW
·
Tanzania as a
member of CITES should press member states including China for an
extraordinary meeting of CITES Member states
to agree on and impose a TOTAL BAN on all Ivory Trading before it is too late.
Honorable
Minister WE MUST
JOIN HANDS WITH ALL STAKEHOLDERS to find solutions & ACT NOW to save our
heritage.
THANK
YOU.
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