AFTER 40 YEARS OF EFFORT, TANZANIA CREATES NEW PROTECTED AREA FOR ENDANGERED MONKEYS

AFTER 40 YEARS OF EFFORT, TANZANIA CREATES NEW PROTECTED AREA FOR ENDANGERED MONKEYS
It's taken a long time, conservationists say, partly because of complicated land ownership issues.
SHREYA DASGUPTA 40 MINUTES AGO



Red Colobus Monkey
(Photo: Olivier Lejade/Flickr)

Tanzania has officially created a new protected area, the Magombera Nature Reserve, extending protection to numerous species of rare plants and animals, including the endangered Udzungwa red colobus monkey and Verdcourt's Polyalthia tree. The reserve, located in south-central Tanzania and spread over 10 square miles, lies sandwiched between two large protected areas: the Selous Game Reserve to the east and the Udzungwa Mountains National Park to the west.

The formal declaration of the reserve comes after some 40 years of research and conservation efforts. It's taken a long time, conservationists say, partly because of complicated land ownership issues.

The biological value of the Magombera forest area first came to attention in the 1970s with the discovery of a population of the Udzungwa red colobus, a rare primate species that's found only around the mountains it's named after. Subsequent expeditions revealed many more species of plants and animals that were either rare or unique to the area. Following these discoveries, the Tanzanian government agreed to annex the Magombera forest, then designated a forest reserve, into the adjacent, much-larger, and heavily protected Selous Game Reserve. Consequently, Magombera was de-gazetted in 1980 and its status as a forest reserve was revoked.

"But, tragically, for an unknown reason, the annexation to the Selous didn't happen, and the area was sold to a sugar company!" Andrew Marshall, a conservation scientist at the University of York, who's been working in Magombera since the early 2000s, writes in an email. "It wasn't until 2002 that researchers and conservationists were informed of the error, and the sugar company agreed not to develop the land."

More:
https://psmag.com/environment/tanzania-creates-new-protected-lands-for-rare-species