Only Lesser flamingo breeding site in East Africa thrown a lifeline

A lifeline has been thrown to the one million lesser flamingos of Tanzania’s Lake Natron, threatened by huge industrial development on their most important breeding site in the world.

The plan to build a soda ash plant on the lake, in northern Tanzania in the Great Rift Valley, has been thrown out for now and the developers, Lake Natron Resources, have been ordered to produce a new and better environmental statement and consider other sites for soda ash extraction. The firm is jointly owned by the Indian company TATA Chemicals and the Tanzanian Government.

 

Graham Wynne, Chief Executive of the RSPB, which is campaigning vigorously against the development, said: ‘The soda ash proposal is just plain wrong and the decision today is a major victory for conservation and for common sense.

‘The birds are not safe yet but the developers have been sent back to square one and set questions we do not think they can answer. Places like Lake Natron belong to the people and wildlife of Africa not to multinationals to exploit for their own short-term gain.’
Groups reporting to Tanzania’s environment ministry called time early on today’s meeting to assess the developer’s obligatory environmental assessment for the soda ash plant.

Of the 14 bodies present, including conservation groups, national parks and the EU, representing donors, most said the development should be rejected because of the risk of driving away the flamingos, harming other species and irreversibly damaging Lake Natron, which is protected by international law.

There are between 1.5 and 2.5 million lesser flamingos in East Africa – three-quarters of the world’s population - and it is likely that every one of them hatched at Lake Natron.

The area has been East Africa’s only breeding site for the birds for 45 years because development at other lakes has forced lesser flamingos away. Lake Natron’s isolation safeguards the birds from predators and its food-rich waters, and the freshwater close by, create ideal breeding conditions.

 

Lesser flamingos are highly vulnerable to disturbance and conservationists are convinced that the plant’s coal-fired power station, road and rail links, housing, cables and noise would stop the birds breeding.

The plant could also cause major water shortages for nomads in the area – it would devour 100,000 litres of freshwater and 550,000 litres of brine or saltwater every hour.

Dr Dieter Hoffmann, the RSPB’s Head of Global Programmes, was the first to hear of today’s ruling. He said: ‘This is very, very good news. The flamingos are not safe yet but this is a major step towards them being so.

‘Lake Natron is the most important place in the world for these birds and a huge asset to Tanzania and should never have been earmarked for development. We will continue our fight against the development until we know it is scrapped.’

 

Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania
Lota Melamari, Chief Executive of the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania, is attending the workshop. He said: ‘Whatever the decision, the survival of the lesser flamingo must not be jeopardised. The opportunity to see so many of these colourful birds together on one site is one of Africa’s most popular tourist attractions.’

Lake Natron is one of only five breeding sites for lesser flamingos in the world but if it is damaged, there is no evidence that the birds will breed successfully elsewhere.

Dr Magin said: ‘This could be the beginning of the end for the lesser flamingo. Millions of people have enjoyed the spectacle of flocks of flamingos in Tanzania and Kenya and all of that is now in jeopardy.