Examples - World Heritage Essay

Thanks to KF in EITC for original

Selous Game Reserve

Many people around the world are interested in World Heritage sites, as they teach important history and culture, but many of the sites are in danger. One of the most important of these is the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania, which is both a hunting area and an animal sanctuary. This area is very important because it has beautiful nature and diverse wildlife species (Madenge, 2021, October 14). As such, this essay first describes Selous Game Reserve in detail, then looks at some issues it faces, and finally outlines possible solutions to those issues.

This paragraph describes the Selous Game Reserve in detail. It is a 5.5 million hectare animal protected area in Tanzania, the largest and oldest of its kind in Africa (“This is a time,” 2020, October 1). In 1896, when it was a German colony, the Governor of Germany declared it a protected area (Madenge, 2021, October 14). It was named after Frederick Selous, a British military officer, explorer and big game hunter (“Selous Game Reserve,” n.d._a), and was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982 before becoming a World Heritage Site in Danger in 2014 (“UNESCO,” 2019, December 17). It has a wide variety of wildlife, for example 4000 lions, more than 120000 buffalos, 440 species of birds and so on (“Selous Game Reserve,” n.d._b). The next paragraph looks at three problems the Selous Game Reserve is facing.

This paragraph looks at three problems which Selous Game Reserve is affected by - poaching, construction, and uranium mining. The first problem is poaching. In Selous Game Reserve, various wild animals are hunted, of which especially poaching of elephants and black rhinos is very serious (UNESCO, n.d.). According to a Tanzanian government report in 2015, domestic elephants had declined by more than 60% in the previous five years (“Zo no 60%,” 2015, June 18). Because of hunters coming from all over the world, the number of elephants, which was more than 100,000 in the 1970s, decreased to about 15,000 in 2017 (“Sukuu tame ni,” 2017, October 1). The second problem is construction. There were plans to build dams and roads in Selous Game Reserve, but the World Heritage Committee opposes the construction (UNESCO, 2019, December 17). In that plan, the area used for the dam would be 13,500 hectares, which is 2.5% of the Selous Game Reserve (“This is a time,” 2020, October 1). Therefore, the construction of this dam will threaten ecosystems and wildlife habitats and hunters are more likely get access to poach animals as a results of the construction of the roads (“This is a time,” 2020, October 1). The third problem is uranium mining. Since ancient times, Tanzania has been rich in various resources, for example natural gas, tanzanite and uranium (Shingo, 2013, July 25). In fact, in 2012 the World Heritage Committee allowed Tanzania to mine uranium at Selous Game Reserve and by this 40,000 hectares of there have been excavated (“Selous Game Reserve,” n.d.). Similar to the second problem, this mining causes ecosystem and animal habitat destruction, and river pollution (“Selous Game Reserve in danger,” 2015, February). In summary, there are three main problems - poaching, construction, and uranium mining - of which the most serious is poaching. However, the next paragraph examines some possible solutions to these issues.

This paragraph looks at three possible solutions to the issues above - monitoring, amending the law, and protecting areas. The first solution is monitoring. Monitoring the numbers of elephants started in 1976 and recently several surveys from the sky have been conducted (“Selous Game Reserve,” n.d.). According to Howard Frederick, technical advisor for the survey, numbers are important because we can think of solutions if we can know the feature (“Sizyo saidai no zo tyosa,” 2016, January 7). In addition to the data, the applications and the software created by GEC (Great Elephant Census) are open source so it can continue to be used in the future (“Sizyo saidai no zo tyosa,” 2016, January 7). The second solution is amending the law. In Selous Game Reserve, uranium mining was banned in the past, until changes in 2009 and 2012 as described above (“Selous Game Reserve,” n.d.). As a result, some environmental groups accusing these decisions held a meeting in 2013, where they appealed to the general public about the dangers of uranium mining (“Tanzania: Mkuju river uranium project,” n.d.), but the outcome of these protests is not yet clear. The third solution is protecting areas. To protect the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania’s government carried out the GMP (General Management Plan) from 2005 to 2015 and established the Tanzania Wildlife Management Authority or ‘TAWA’ (“Selous Game Reserve,” n.d.). In addition since 2017, the German animal protection group and WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) have provided Tanzania conservation staff with funding and technology to protect many animals (“Selous Game Reserve,” n.d.). Because of these large-scale efforts to protect ecosystems, the number of elephants recovered slightly (“Selous Game Reserve,” n.d.). In summary, there are three solutions - monitoring, amending the law, and protecting areas - of which unfortunately none are fully effective.

This essay first looked at the Selous Game Reserve in detail, then outlined some issues it faces, and finally examined some possible answers to those problems. In summary, there are three problems - poaching, construction, and uranium mining - of which the most serious is poaching. However, there are three solutions - monitoring, amending the law, and protecting - of which none are currently very effective. As such, Soka University students who want to help should donate to UNESCO, through their website (https://www.unesco.or.jp/join/support/).

References

Madenge. (2021, October 14). A quick walkthrough - Selous Game Reserve. The United Republic of Tanzania. https://unitedrepublicoftanzania.com/economy-of-tanzania/tourism-in-tanzania/wildlife-parks-in-tanzania/a-quick-walkthrough-wilderness-impala-africa-express-reserve-location-selous-game-reserve-national-park-safari-frederick-sand-riverside-river-serena-camp-kinga-lodge/

Poaching puts Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve on list of world heritage in Danger. (n.d.). UNESCO. Retrieved October 13, 2021 from https://en.unesco.org/news/poaching-puts-tanzania%E2%80%99s-selous-game-reserve-list-world-heritage-danger

Selous Game Reserve. (n.d._a). Selous Camp. Retrieved November 10, 2021, from https://www.selouscamp.com/selous-game-reserve/

Selous Game Reserve. (n.d._b). Tanzania Safari Supremacy. Retrieved November 10, 2021, from https://www.safaris-intanzania.com/selous-game-reserve/

Selous Game Reserve. (n.d._c). World Heritage Outlook. Retrieved October 13, 2021 from https://worldheritageoutlook.iucn.org/node/994

Selous Game Reserve, a world heritage in danger. (2015, February). African Indaba. http://www.africanindaba.com/2015/02/selous-game-reserve-a-world-heritage-in-danger-february-2015-volume-13-1/

Shingo, E. (2013, July 25). Shizen to shigen, dochiramoikasumichi wa hatenaku [Nature and resources, there is no end to the way to make use of both]. Asahi Magazine. http://www.asahi.com/special/news/articles/TKY201307250562.html

Sizyo saidai no zo tyosa, afurika zyoku wo 46 man kiro [The largest elephant survey in history, 460,000 kilometers over Africa]. (2016, January 7). National Geographic. https://natgeo.nikkeibp.co.jp/atcl/news/16/010600003/?P=2

Sukuu tame ni korosu? “Goraku no syuryo” no rinriteki, keizaitekimondai [Kill to save? Ethical and economic issues of “entertainment hunting”]. (2017, October 1). Nikkei Style. https://style.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO21527770W7A920C1000000?channel=ASH06001

Tanzania: Mkuju river uranium project. (n.d.). Uranium-network. Retrieved October 28, 2021 from https://uranium-network.org/

This is a time of change for Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve – some good, some terrible. (2020, October 1). Africa Geographic Stories. https://africageographic.com/stories/selous-be-damned/

UNESCO concerned about insufficient Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Rufiji Hydropower Project in Selous Game Reserve (Tanzania). (2019, December 17). UNESCO World Heritage Convention. https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2071

Zo no 60% ga kieta tanzania, sono genin wa [Tanzania, where 60% of elephants have disappeared, the cause]. (2015, June 18). National Geographic. https://natgeo.nikkeibp.co.jp/atcl/news/15/061700148/