Conservation
The biodiversity of Gombe Stream National Park is primarily threatened by human encroachment. Although 25% of Tanzania is set aside in parks and reserves, wildlife populations are still declining. This is mainly due to the lack of collaboration between park management, government sectors, and rural communities. Village lands often lie between parks and become obstacles for animals traveling between protected areas. Without incentives to protect the animals, rural communities will hunt them for food or kill them for safety reasons. Poverty also increases the demand for bushmeat and forces farmers to clear increasingly large sections of forest for productive soils. Currently, revenue from wildlife (tourism and sport hunting) is received by the central government, and only 25% is retained in the rural district where the hunting takes place. This becomes a circular problem as these impoverished villages are forced to hunt wildlife to survive, and thereby decrease the wildlife population and income from tourism, preventing the government from offering any aid from the revenue.
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Famous quotes containing the word conservation:
“A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.”
—Aristide Briand (1862–1932)
“The putting into force of laws which shall secure the conservation of our resources, as far as they may be within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, including the more important work of saving and restoring our forests and the great improvement of waterways, are all proper government functions which must involve large expenditure if properly performed.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)