Stop the exploitation in the mountains of Tanzania
Ample natural resources in poor countries can more often be a curse than a blessing. Ruthless companies are coming and taking away these resources regardless of the environment and the local residents. A devastated piece of land is left behind. At the moment, this is also happening in the northern mountains of Tanzania. Now however, you can still decide how this story will end. Help the people in and around the mountain village of Chome to stop the destruction of their habitat.
In these mountains, a dubious company with changing names is illegally mining for bauxite, a raw material for aluminum and cement. This is not only destroying the forest, but also the water source of the entire region. If nobody stops them, the whole area with more than 250,000 inhabitants will dry up.
Call upon the government of Tanzania to put an end to the exploitation:
https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/mailalert/906?ref=nl&mt=1551
More than 100 000 people have signed our protest for the protection of elephants and the rainforest in Malaysia.
A first success can already be seen: the politicians of Malaysia, including the Prime Minister, have expressed grave concern about the significant number of signatures and would now like to work together with environmental organizations. We will continue to put pressure on them until they finally put an end to the clearing of the forests.
Mt Shengena is covered by dense forests. They are the livelihood of the surrounding villages, home to rare animal and plant species and surround the Chome Forest Reserve. Most importantly however, they provide water for the entire Same district – until now. On the ridge, the trees had to give way to bare red soil. A dubious company with changing names, currently called Willy Enterprise LTD, is mining for bauxite here.
Large trucks transport the red raw material for aluminum into the valley. For this purpose only, a street has been carved into the mountain. This in turn facilitates illegal poachers and loggers to gain access to the fertile forest. The raw material is being brought to the neighboring Kenya and from there, is shipped to Asia.
The entire region is threatened to dry up if there is no more water flowing from the well. Agriculture would then be impossible. Even now, farmers are complaining of increasingly poor harvests. Their livelihood is threatened by the exploitation.
The bauxite-company is performing their work illegally – without the consent of the residents to whom the land belongs, according to Tanzanian law – referring to a so-called contract which is full of forged signatures and vague wording. Since June 2012, the company is also violating a ban imposed by the government which was introduced to stop the mining. The exploitation however, continues.
The inhabitants are convinced that only because of corruption all this can continue. Some of them formed a protest group, but without any help, they are powerless against a company that pays a bribe for silence. “We trust in God, as we cannot afford a lawyer”, they say.
Help the inhabitants to defend themselves against the destruction of their land and write to the Tanzanian government.
You can continue to sign the petition: Malaysia sacrifices its elephants for palm oil
Please forward this on to friends or share on Facebook.
Thanks for being involved,
Reinhard Behrend
Rainforest Rescue (Rettet den Regenwald e.V.)
info@rainforest-rescue.org
www.rainforest-rescue.org
http://www.facebook.com/rainforest2rescue