A Likely Change to the Serengeti

In Tanzania, plans for a road across the Serengeti National Park have already caused controversies with conservationists. The Tanzanian government is hoping that this road will help increase the national economy by connecting Tanzania to the growing communities. This road, however, may also strike a huge threat to the habitat of the Serengeti. It will most likely cause a disturbance in the migration of the millions of wildebeests when seasons change. Also the building of the road would bring construction workers in contact with wild animals, which would definitely result in animals killed. The road would even make it easier for poachers to access the Serengeti, another negative. Even with these disadvantages, the Tanzanian government is continuing with the plan. The Tanzanian president, Jakaya Kikwete, had promised to build the road during his 2005 elections and says that he “will be the last person to allow something which is going to destroy the nature”. However, an environment-impact assessment by a Norwegian consulting company, says that building a road would have an effect on the habitat and advises against it. Some people believe that a road across the Serengeti will not help the Tanzanian economy by a large amount. Sinclair, of the University of British Columbia, believes that a road around the southern area of the Serengeti would have a larger impact on the economy of Tanzania. Others such as Dereck Joubert, a wildlife filmmaker, acknowledge the Tanzanian government’s goals and say that if they continue with the plan, they should try to lessen the impact on wildlife.

Migration is a small but significant part of biology. Scientists can learn more about animals, such as wildebeests, by studying their migration route as the seasons change. Another way this article relates to biology is because it involves an environment or more specifically the Serengeti. Which may be in threat if the plan to build a road straight through it continues.

This article is important to us because one of the world’s most magnificent ecosystems is in danger. And we need to protect it or at least try to lessen the impact that the road has on the migration of wildebeests and also other animals, or else it all could possibly disappear. We should also care because this sets an example of why we should try to conserve as much as the natural environment as we can.

Source:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/100817-science-environment-wildebeest-migration-tanzania-road/