After a 10 year battle, Tanzania's 'Flamingo Factory' is safe

21 Mar 2018

The Government of Tanzania has decided against building a soda ash factory on the shores of Lake Natron, thus ending a ten-year struggle of the fate of the waters.

By Margaret Sessa ...

Last week, the conservation world received some extremely good news when the Government of Tanzania decided to abandon plans to construct a soda ash factory at Lake Natron, the most significant breeding site for Lesser Flamingos (Phoeniconaias minor) after becoming aware of the potential impacts. BirdLife International congratulates the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania on the decision, and their commitment to safeguarding flamingos.  

“The government move validates our ongoing collaboration to promote ecotourism as a sustainable alternative for local communities at Lake Natron”, said Patricia Zurita, BirdLife International’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). “Through a three-year Darwin-funded project, a long term plan to help coordinate ecotourism as well as boost management capacity is already underway. BirdLife looks forward to continued positive engagement with the Government of Tanzania.”

Located in Northern Tanzania, Lake Natron is the ‘it’ spot for Lesser Flamingos. Although many plants and animals eschew the waters, which frequently reach temperatures above 40° C and are so alkaline as to burn skin, it’s paradise for flamingos, where the high salinity just means more food. Roughly 75 percent of the world’s Lesser Flamingos are hatched at the lake, and tourists flock to see the incredible ‘pink parade’ that results when flamingos strut around doing their mating dance.

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Soda ash factories threaten flamingos

Lesser Flamingos could be at risk if the Tanzanian Government goes ahead with its plans to allow the National Development Corporation (NDC) to build two soda ash factories at Lake Natron and Engaruka in northern Tanzania Birdlife International have warned.

The NDC have stated that the factories are expected to produce 1.5 million tonnes of soda ash per year, employ over 1,000 people and are expected to bring in net income of $480 m (720 billion Tanzanian shillings. They have further stated that the Lake Natron factory will be built at least 10 kilometres from the lake “to avoid disrupting the flamingos.” 

Festo Semanini, the Head of the BirdLife International Office in Tanzania, based in Arusha says: “Mining of soda ash from Lake Natron would be the greatest ecological mistake Tanzania has ever committed. Indeed, recent studies have shown that mining would wipe out the lesser flamingos, to the detriment of Tanzanian economy and that of other East African countries. Flamingos use over 90 per cent of the Lake and digging the soda ash is the real threat; not where you place the factory.”

Mining of soda ash at Lake Natron would contravene international conventions especially the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. 

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Major flamingo breeding event begins on Lake Natron

Many thousands of lesser flamingos have flocked to Tanzania's Lake Natron to begin nesting.

Early reports suggest that this could become the most significant breeding event since 2007.

But the flamingos' breeding success will depend on a combination of environmental factors.

The gathering is one of nature's "fantastic spectacles", said Sarah Ward, of the University of Southampton.

Three-quarters of the world population of lesser flamingos (Hoenicopterus minor) live in East Africa and use Lake Natron as their nesting site.

"Large breeding events involving over a million [lesser] flamingos are not unusual if conditions at Lake Natron are suitable and if the flamingos are in good health," explained Ms Ward, a PhD research student studying the relationship between East African lakes and lesser flamingo populations at the university's Institute of Complex Systems Simulation (ICSS) and geography departments.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/20271751