Tanzania calls for reinforcement in protection of wildlife corridors

DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has called for reinforcement toward the protection of wildlife corridors to lessen human-wildlife conflicts, the ministry said in a statement late Saturday.

The statement said the call was made by the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Juma Mkomi, in a meeting with wildlife conservation stakeholders in the northern city of Arusha.

"It is everyone's responsibility to make sure that wildlife corridors are not encroached on by human activities, including farming and livestock keeping," Mkomi told the meeting.

He said all ministries involved in wildlife conservation, including the ministries Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development, Livestock and Fisheries, Water, Works and Transport and Environment should work together in the protection of the wildlife corridors.

Maurus Msuha, the director of Wildlife in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, said the protection of wildlife corridors linking the protected areas with adjacent ecosystems will help lessen wildlife-human conflicts, especially with regard to elephants that raid farms and residential areas.

Msuha said encroachment of a wildlife corridor that allows the movement of wild animals between isolated patches of habitat without other disturbances, such as traffic or development, is a major source of human-wildlife conflicts.