4.3 Wildlife Utilization

Wildlife is the valuable natural resource in Tanzania. It contributes to economic development by providing employment, income and revenues including foreign exchange. The said contribution is obtained through export of live animals, hunting of wild animals for their products (Food, skins, horns, etc.) game viewing i.e. Tourism (this will have a separate treatment later) and wildlife ranching. Though the sector is still undeveloped, the government is expecting to earn much from this sector in future.

A. Overall Contribution to Economy

Much of the use of wildlife falls within the informal sector of the economy - e.g., hunting and capturing of animals for trade which are not recorded or regulated by law. Because of the informal nature of these activities, it is difficult to quantify them for purposes of contribution to GDP. However, several efforts to document the activities make it clear that these actions are continuing, with potentially tremendous detrimental effects on the populations of species and degradation of their habitats.

In addition to the over-all benefits of the wildlife sector to the national economy, it must be stated that Tanzania's wildlife is unique within the whole world. For example, as the NEAP points out, over 25% of Tanzania's 10,000 recorded plant species are indigenous - in other words, they occur only in Tanzania. In addition, many species of amphibians, lizard, snakes and birds are also indigenous. Tanzania has forty percent of the world's wild coffee varieties and about 80% of African violet flower plant species. The Selous Game Reserve also has the largest concentration of elephants in East Africa. Twenty-five percent of the land area is reserved for conservation of these species. These numbers, when compared to the indigenous species of other countries, demonstrate that Tanzania's wildlife species indeed make it unique in world terms.