Chemical plant plan threatens Tanzanian flamingos - activists

Nov 2, 2007, 15:45 GMT

Nairobi - Tanzanian officials were on Friday meeting to decide the fate of a proposed chemical plant on a remote lake which environmentalists say threatens the world's most important breeding site for the Lesser Flamingo.

Indian conglomerate Tata Chemicals is seeking the green light to build a plant for soda ash, a material used in glass and dye production, on the shores of the isolated Lake Natron in Africa's Great Rift Valley.

The leaders of conservation groups in 23 African countries have signed a petition urging the Tanzanian government to turn down the proposal and their campaign has been backed by naturalist and British broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.

'Lake Natron's vast flocks of shimmering pink flamingos are one of the world's greatest wildlife attractions,' said Attenborough in a statement released by the British-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

'These spectacular birds deserve the strongest protection we can offer them,' he said.

The proposed plant on the internationally-recognized wetland would pump more than 100,000 litres of freshwater and 550,000 litres of brine (saltwater) from the area every hour.

A coal-fired power station, road and rail links and housing for 1,200 construction workers would also be built at the site.

Located in northern Tanzania close to the Kenyan border, Lake Natron serves as a nesting site for more than 1 million Lesser Flamingos, according to the RSPB statement.

It is believed likely that every single one of East Africa's 1.5 to 2.5 million Lesser Flamingos ­ three-quarters of the world's population - hatched at the site.

Studies suggest that wildlife tourism in Tanzania and Kenya is worth 2 billion dollars annually.