WWF, Tanzanian NGOs join hands in fight against illegal wildlife trade

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), an international wildlife watchdog, has partnered with Tanzania's local non-governmental organizations in a campaign against illegal wildlife trade, a WWF official said on Tuesday. The campaign dubbed "illegal wildlife trade campaign" is expected to involve local communities to fight against barbaric killings of innocent wild animals, which is at an alarming rate. WWF Tanzania's conservation manager Gerald Kamwenda said in Arusha that the fight against poaching needs collective efforts amongst stakeholders. "NGOs are among of them and we believe they will play a big role in this fight because they work with communities at the grassroots levels," he said, adding that more than 60 grassroots NGOs are to take part in the war. "That is why we came up with this new approach of involving NGOs, which are operating at the grassroots levels, where people live. It is our hope that a number of issues will come out through this campaign as there are more issues, which are not yet known," the WWF official said when commenting on why poaching is still rampant in Tanzania despite several interventions. During this year's Bangkok summit of the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), Tanzania and Kenya were named as among the top eight nations which are at the heart of an unprecedented surge in African elephant killing. "We have changed the approach. In this new campaign we want to engage more local people especially those who are close to game reserves and national parks," said Zuberi Mwachula, the national chairman of Mazingira Network Tanzania (MANET), an umbrella organization for environmental NGOs. According to Mwachula, a countrywide campaign is to involve nearly 70 grassroot NGOs and intends to empower local communities with skills and knowledge on the importance of wildlife and how they can take part in the fight against poaching. He explained that before getting into the serious campaign, NGOs will also be trained on how they can take part in the campaign. So far, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) has dished-out 1.2 billion Tanzanian shillings (750,000 U.S. dollars), which is to be channeled to NGOs for lobby and advocacy. "As stakeholders, we're shocked with what we hear that in a day three elephants are killed in our game reserves and parks. We can fight until the last minute," Josiah Severre, an environmental activist said. Poaching has a very negative impact to the country's tourism industry as tourists do visit Tanzania because of wildlife, he said, "If this trend left unchecked it will increase poverty in the country, taking into account that the tourism sector employs many people." MANET's executive secretary Frank Luvanda said the campaign will involve a number of people including those from the government. "In some areas, we'll also work with government officials who are commissioned to take care of wildlife, by giving them some of working facilities so that they perform their duties," he said.