Tanzanian Government Urged to Protect Old Forest
1/31/98
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Title: Tanzanian Government Urged to Protect Old Forest
Source: CNN
Status: Copyright 1998 by source, contact for reprint permissions
Date: 1/31/98
DAR ES SALAAM (Jan. 30) XINHUA - A Tanzanian district forest
officer has expressed fears that the Pugu forest Reserve
near Dar Es Salaam will disappear because of frequent human
activities, The Guardian reported on Friday.
Charles Secha, forest officer for Kisarawe district, told
the newspaper that the government must take urgent measures
to save the 2,410-hectare forest, located in the Coast
Region.
Secha said it is difficult for his office to work with acute
shortage of manpower, lack of working tools and funds.
Despite its fame that it is among the oldest forests in the
world and one with endemic species, he said, the Pugu forest
reserve is likely to perish as it is too close to the city
of Dar Es Salaam and other urban centers which are expanding
every day.
These towns, he said, are polluting the environment and
bringing about an increasing demand for the forest products
such as charcoal, fuel-wood, timber and poles for building.
Other problems include the encroachment of forest in search
of more farming areas and building sites, poaching, mining
of kaolin, indiscriminate disposal of industrial wastes,
construction of television stations and communication
facilities, Secha added.