![]() In fact, the East African reports that Tanzania’s Minister for Industry and Trade, Cyril Chami, has recently stated that even if a current Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) finds against construction of a soda ash factory, the government will build it anyway.Īerial view of Lake Natron with flamingos (seen as tiny dots) nesting on islands. “There is no need for further delay,” Kikwete said, “because experience shows that the excavation can continue without any disturbance to the ecosystem there, environmental activists want people to believe that the move will wipe out the flamingo population, which is not true.”īut Tanzanian isn’t planning on simply re-considering the $450 million mine-which would be constructed by Indian company, Tata Chemicals-they want its approval ‘fast-tracked’. Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete recently resurrected the plan to mine in Lake Natron after it was abandoned in 2008 due to concerns from Tanzania’s National Environmental Management Council (NEMC) that mining would impact the birds’ breeding success. But conservationists worry that plans to mine soda ash-also known as sodium carbonate, which is used in making glass, chemicals, and detergents-would disrupt the sensitive birds’ breeding grounds, threatening the species and putting a damper on East Africa’s tourism industry. This shallow salt lake provides optimal habitat for flamingos and their chicks as the caustic environment keeps mammal predators at bay. ![]() Astoundingly, over half of the world’s lesser flamingos (between 65-75%) are born in a single lake in northern Tanzania: Lake Natron. However one describes it, this biological wonder may be under threat as Tanzania plans to mine in a flamingo breeding ground that is not only regionally important, but globally. ‘Spectacle’ comes to mind, but even this is not wholly accurate for the surreal pink crowd. ![]() ![]() It’s not easy to find a single word to describe witnessing hundreds of thousands of flamingos filling up a shallow lake in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa. Lesser flamingo (Phoenicopterus minor) with egg.
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