Tanzania vows to protect Mount Kilimanjaro from recurrent fire outbreaks

DAR ES SALAAM, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian authorities said on Tuesday they have started taking measures aimed at protecting Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak, from recurrent fire outbreaks.

Selemani Jafo, the Minister of State in the Vice President's Office responsible for Union and Environment, said the measures were being overseen by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.

He revealed the measures in parliament in response to Anne Kilango Malecela, a Member of Parliament for Same East constituency in Kilimanjaro region, who had wanted to know measures being taken by the government to protect Mount Kilimanjaro from recurrent fire outbreaks.

Jafo said although the government has formed a team of experts to investigate the causes of the fire outbreaks, human activities, including setting fire on the mountain, were also to blame.

Khamis Hamza Khamis, the Deputy Minister in the Vice President's Office responsible for Union and Environment, said a number of institutions, including the University of Dar es Salaam, the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Morogoro region and the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) in Arusha region were involved in the investigation of the causes of fire outbreaks on the mountain.

The latest fire outbreak on the snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro from Oct. 21, 2022 to Nov. 1, 2022 destroyed at least 34.2 square kilometers of natural vegetation, an equivalent to 1.9 percent of the mountain's conservation area.

Mount Kilimanjaro, one of Tanzania's leading tourist destinations, is about 5,895 meters above sea level. Roughly 50,000 trekkers from across the world attempt to reach the summit of the mountain annually.