National Action Plan for the Lesser Flamingo finalized in the Republic of Tanzania
19
February 2010 - During a consultative meeting, organised
by the National Wetlands Working Group led by the Wildlife
Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST) and the Tanzania
Wildlife Research Institute with support from the Wetlands
Unit of Tanzania's Wildlife Division, participants agreed
on a new National Single Species Action Plan for the Lesser
Flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor) for Tanzania. The
National Action Plan is based on the International Single
Species Action Plan for the conservation of the Lesser Flamingo
which was finalized under the auspices of AEWA and CMS.
Both plans aim to downgrade the Lesser Flamingo from a “Near-Threatened” species to a species of “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Identified activities in these plans focus on measures to address the major threats to the survival of the species and to fill current knowledge gaps. These measures include protecting the Lesser Flamingo and its habitats and increasing public awareness as well as appropriate management of key sites.
Because of its specialized diet of microscopic alkaline cyanobacteria (‘blue green algae’), the Lesser Flamingo is totally dependent on a habitat of shallow saline/alkaline lakes, pans, wetlands and coastal areas. It occurs regularly in 30 countries from West Africa, across sub-Saharan Africa and along the southwest Asian coast to South Asia. One of these countries is the Republic of Tanzania, where Lake Natron is by far the most important breeding site for the species worldwide. Plans for a proposed soda extraction facility around Lake Natron attracted global attention, because soda ash processing represents a potentially serious threat to the survival of the entire species.
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