Tanzania is to receive an €8 million ($9.41 million) grant from Germany to carry out a strategic environmental impact assessment in the Selous Game Reserve. This follows a declaration from the World Heritage Committee that the park is in danger of widespread poaching that is decimating wildlife populations. 

“The process of signing the grant has started; probably before the end of January or February, the funds will be in,” said Benson Kibonde, the chief warden at Selous Game Reserve. 

The impact assessment project is expected to take off immediately after the money is received. It aims at ensuring that the environment and other sustainable aspects of the reserve are considered in policy, planning and programme-making.  

“The assessment study will among other things determine the impact of human activities on the reserve and whether it houses other minerals apart from uranium, oil and gases,” said Mr Kibonde. 

READ: Africa is fast losing its wildlife as population pressure mounts

Mr Kibonde said it was important for the country to carry out the strategic environmental impact assessment before it entered into any mining development agreements with investors because “they might discover other minerals in the process of exploring, and it would not be good to be taken by surprise.” 

The Selous Game Reserve is one of the largest protected areas in the world, covering a total area of 55,000 square kilometres. It was listed as being in danger from poaching at a meeting of the Unesco World Heritage Committee in Doha in June last year. 

Until recently, the reserve was relatively undisturbed by humans. Now a plan is in the works to build a hydroelectric dam on the Rufiji River. Elephant poaching has also become so rampant in recent years that the Environmental Investigation Agency has referred to the reserve as one of the worst elephant “killing fields” in Africa.

The reserve hosts one of the most significant concentrations of elephant, black rhinoceros, cheetah, giraffe, hippopotamus and crocodiles. It also has a high variety of habitats including Miombo woodlands, open grasslands, riverine forests and swamps.