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The harassing lioness jumps into a lazily wandering wildebeest herd, using her strong front paws to grab her prey by the neck, smother her and kill her, all in a matter of seconds. Vultures circle above. Hyenas look. But at Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania, where such breathtaking sites are usual, it's not just the wildebeest whose survival is threatened. A massive hydropower plant threatens the giant reserves of the animal reserve as Tanzania prepares for its most difficult unnatural development test to date.
Tanzania, one of the most vibrant African economies with 53 million inhabitants, has suffered repeatedly. paralyzing electricity crises. In response, the country's government under the presidency of John Magufuli plans to start building a large hydroelectric dam in the Stiegler Gorge on the Rufiji River this summer. Presented as a miracle solution to the country's power problems, the dam is expected to inject 2,100 megawatts into the national grid, which is more than enough to meet Tanzania's current electricity needs.
which is larger than Switzerland at 5 million hectares. The Tanzanian state forest management agency conceded in May that it would clear 148,000 hectares of forest in the sprawling Rufiji Valley to make way for the reservoir. The government insists that the project, estimated at $ 2 billion, should proceed as planned – and that Tanzania's economic future depends on it. But environmental advocates, both national and international, worry that the project could irreparably damage the park and could even lead UNESCO to reconsider the World Heritage status of the reserve. acquired in 1982. Amani Ngusaru, director of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says about 200,000 people who depend on the fishery for their protein and their livelihood.
This is against the law
Nape Nnau, legislator of the ruling party who is against the project
And local communities and politicians – even from the party of Magufuli – accuse the government of ignore the impact of loss of tourism income and other nature-dependent economic activities on downstream local communities. The construction of the dam, critics say, will increase soil erosion, hurting farmers and fishermen.
"Many natural forests will be destroyed … it's against the law," says Nape Nnauye, a legislator of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party
The challenge is not unique to the Tanzania. Local communities and environmental groups are fighting battles from Brazil and Bangladesh to China and Cameroon against dam projects that threaten heritage sites. In some cases, the impacts of dams do not really appear until decades later. A 2015 study by the University of East Anglia revealed that the Brazilian Balbina Dam, built in the 1980s, transformed a vast strip of tropical rainforest into an archipelago of 3,546 islands. But the struggle between nature and the culture of Tanzania is rare. Selous is the largest game reserve in Africa.
Magufuli and the government have made it clear that they are not bowing under the opposition – not yet, anyway. Speaking about the project proposed last year, the Tanzanian president – who came to power despite hopes of liberalism but has shown a more authoritarian trend in recent months – insisted that the hydroelectric reservoir "would help Tanzania to "We will not listen to talk about environmental impacts [the] without facts on the ground," he said. Medard Kalemani, the Tanzanian Minister of Energy, told the author that $ 306.7 million had already been budgeted to launch the project.
But the "facts on the ground" suggest a threat to the ecology of Selous Park, the WWF Wildlife Conservation Group said in 2017, adding that the project could potentially deprive wildlife farmers and fishermen for their livelihoods. "The WWF is opposing a dam in the Stiegler Gorge in the Selous Wildlife Sanctuary unless a strategic environmental assessment is implemented, as stipulated in the Tanzanian Environmental Law in force, which does not bears no prejudice to the reservation, "said Ngusaru. the government has not made such an assessment. And ignoring these concerns could be as dangerous for the future of Tanzania as not to build a stable source of electrical energy. As climate change continues to wreak havoc, experts say eastern and southern parts of Tanzania are expected to experience extreme weather and recurring droughts, which would likely affect the capacity of hydroelectric dams. . Although hydropower is widely praised as clean and sustainable, it often has environmental and economic consequences for local communities as rivers are redirected, biodiversity is lost and human-animal conflict increases, analysts say
. bring both gains and losses, suggests Raphael Mwalyosi, professor of ecology at the University of Dar es Salaam. It will produce "high value" energy and could lead to "a drastic reduction in the frequency of severe flooding in the lower Rufiji Valley," he says. But if the direct ecological effects of the construction of the dam are not likely to endanger wildlife, animals such as zebra, giraffe and wildebeest could potentially be at risk, he adds. Impoundment of rivers could adversely affect the fisheries and agriculture of the floodplains due to changes in water and salinity levels.
Controversial energy projects often elicit opposition from local communities. evicted from their lands or prohibited from using natural resources. And sometimes the government has backtracked – a record that arouses hope among those who oppose the Stiegler's Throat project. In 2016, the Tanzanian authorities halted a $ 569 million bioenergy project in Bagamoyo District, citing concerns over wildlife and land rights violations.
When civil servants prevented farmers and fishermen from working on the shores of the country. Rufiji in preparation for the power project, the movement has sparked angry reactions that have only intensified since then. "We have been fishing in this river all our life, how come they prevent us from fishing?" Asks Huruma Kalegaya, fishmonger at Mloka village, outside Selous Park. " Who destroys the environment between us and them? "
Local communities in the Rufiji Valley fear the displacement and loss of access to water that they have long used to drink, fish and cultivate In the Mtunda district of Rufiji district, Sultani Maulid, a 66-year-old rice farmer, fears that if fresh water from the river is diverted to the power station, he will It will not be enough to dilute the seawater in its rice paddies .. Its livelihood could disappear.
For Tanzania, the stakes are even higher. is its future economic growth and electricity that its industry will need.On the other hand, there is the pleasure of your Ir exotic beasts surrounded by nature that has attracted millions of tourists and helped bring the country's economy to where it currently stands. Choosing the prey to sacrifice is not always easy.
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