Tanzania: Prince William Calls for Community Engagement in Wildlife Conservation
UK’s Prince William has called for close involvement of local communities in wildlife conservation to intensify anti-poaching crusade in the country.
The Prince made the remarks over the weekend after visiting Mkomazi National Park in Same District, Kilimanjaro Region.
“Active participation of local members surrounding the national parks is vital and can play significant role in the ongoing war against poaching in the country,” he said.
The Duke of Cambridge who was on a six-day visit to some African countries met President John Magufuli at the State House last week, pledging to continue supporting Tanzania in its anti-poaching crusade.
Prince William visited Tanzania as president of United for Wildlife, which fights illegal trade in wildlife, and patron of Tusk, which promotes conservation.
His visit to Tanzania was aimed at raising awareness of the Illegal Wildlife Trade conference taking place in London in October, and to learn more about the conservation work taking place in the country.
At Mkomazi National Park, Prince William said he was impressed by tourist attractions he saw and the efforts being made to involve communities in conserving and protecting them.
The royal has already visited Namibia, after landing in Windhoek on Monday. He will visit Kenya, where he proposed to the Duchess of Cambridge, before flying back to the UK.
Prince William, who first visited Tanzania about 20 years ago to sample two world’s heritage sites of Serengeti National Park and Selous Game Reserve, pledged to visit the former in the near future.
TANAPA Director General, Dr Allan Kijazi assured Prince William that participation of community members surrounding national parks in conservation activities was high on the TANAPA agenda.
He said TANAPA has been imparting conservation education to local communities, cooperating with them in identifying their needs and link them with various institutions in a bid to resolve their crosscutting challenges.
