Ecological Impacts of Land Conversion on Wildlife Conservation: A Case of Construction Sector in Tanzania: Fid-Bau Portal

Ecological Impacts of Land Conversion on Wildlife Conservation: A Case of Construction Sector in Tanzania

Haule, Cosmas Benedict Mabalika

Establishment of protected areasProtected areas” is globally employed as the mechanism for conservation of biological diversity. However, the protected areasProtected areas” are subject to land conversionLand conversion”. The land conversionsLand conversion” taking place in the protected areas can be illegal or ones graced by authorities mandated to conserve the biodiversity. In Tanzania, the changing socio-economic forces and population are behind the growing constructionConstruction” projects in the wildlife habitats. In most cases, the development initiatives such as the constructionConstruction” projects lead to downgrading, downsizing and degazettement of the protected areas. Various studies have reported notable impacts of construction projects on wildlife conservationWildlife conservation”in protected areasProtected areas”. The obvious identified ecological impactsEcological impacts” of construction projects include habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, and blockage of migratory corridors and loss of dispersal areas, increased poaching rates, pollution, and disturbance to wildlife. The Undertakings of environmental impacts assessments on proposed constructionConstruction” projects are vital not only for enhancement of preparedness among those responsible for wildlife conservationWildlife conservation” but also provision of insights on how to mitigate the negative impacts of those projects. In that case, it is imperative necessary to document the growing concerns in biodiversity conservation so as to reduce the ecological impactsEcological impacts” of the increasing constructionConstruction” works.