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Lesser Flamingos: “the greatest ornithological spectacle in the world"
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Judgement day for Africa’s flamingos
02-11-2007
“Lake Natron’s vast flocks of shimmering pink flamingos are one of the world’s greatest wildlife attractions. These spectacular birds deserve the strongest protection we can offer them" —Sir David Attenborough, Naturalist and Broadcaster
The enormous clouds of pink flamingos that grace the skies of East Africa and ring the edges of some of its most scenic lakes with a bright band of living colour may soon be a thing of the past if the path is cleared today (November 2) for a major industrial development on a remote and isolated lake in Africa’s Great Rift Valley.
Officials in Tanzania are to assess plans for a soda ash plant on Lake Natron, the world's single most important breeding site for the Near Threatened Lesser Flamingo, where more than a million of these beautiful birds nest.
They will advise Environment Minister Mark Mwandosya on whether to allow Lake Natron Resources, jointly owned by the Tanzanian Government and the Indian company TATA Chemicals, to pump more than 100,000 litres of freshwater and 550,000 litres of brine (saltwater) from the area every hour, for the production of soda ash, a material used in glass and dye production.
The lake is the only reliable breeding site in East Africa for the Lesser Flamingo. All the 1.5 - 2.5 million Lesser Flamingos alive in East Africa today were probably hatched at Lake Natron - Africa's "flamingo factory".
A coal-fired power station, road and rail links and housing for 1,200 construction workers would be built at the site. The development would seriously harm tourism in three countries, Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia, and could cause Lake Natron’s international wetland designation to be withdrawn.
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 broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.
Sir David said: “Lake Natron’s vast flocks of shimmering pink flamingos are one of the world’s greatest wildlife attractions. These spectacular birds deserve the strongest protection we can offer them.
“Any threat to their future would not only be an ecological disaster, it would deal a huge blow to tourism in East Africa which helps ensure the survival of the region’s spectacular wildlife and wild places.”
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“the limited knowledge available on the functioning of the Lake Natron ecosystem as it relates to the Lesser Flamingo strongly suggests that the project will entail a significant degree of risk for this species" —Environmental and Social Impact Assessment report
As well, there are questions why International protocols such as Ramsar, Convention on Migratory Species, and closer home, the Protocol on Environment of the East African Community, were not considered during the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) process.
The ESIA report states that “it must be recognised that the limited knowledge available on the functioning of the Lake Natron ecosystem as it relates to the Lesser Flamingo strongly suggests that the project will entail a significant degree of risk for this species in the longer term that is not capable of direct mitigation”. Other serious impacts the report cites as significant are "the increase of HIV/AIDS in existing resident population and increased pressure on the grazing land of the Masai community".
Proponents of the scheme cite its economic benefits in terms of profit, tax revenues and jobs. However, the report indicates that "no casual labour recruitment of any sort except from major towns outside the Ramsar site" - including during construction phase. They also ignore the potential negative effects on the environment and tourism, one of the major sources of foreign exchange in both Tanzania and Kenya. The tourist industry in Tanzania employs over 200,000 people directly, and provides many more jobs indirectly.
Ato Mengistu Wondafrash, of BirdLife International’s Africa Partnership, said: “Lake Natron secures a way of life for nomadic communities and the flamingos produce a thriving tourist economy. To jeopardize Africa's "flamingo factory" for an ill-considered development would be economic, and moral, suicide.”
Dr Hazell Shokellu Thompson, Head of BirdLife’s Africa Division, said: “Africa is making great strides towards conserving its immense biodiversity and Tanzania must think clearly of what this decision on Lake Natron will say of its environmental credentials.
“This is a clear opportunity for the Tanzanian government to continue showing moral and environmental responsibility in Africa by taking a decision not to proceed with the soda ash development.”
 NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
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For press enquiries/photos:
Martin Fowlie, BirdLife International. Tel: +44 (0)1223 279813 Mob: +44 (0)7899045106 Email: martin.fowlie@birdlife.org
For more information contact:
Dr. Hazell Shokellu Thompson – Head BirdLife Africa Secretariat Email: hazell.thompson@birdlife.or.ke
or
Jane Gaithuma - Regional Policy and Advocacy coordinator, BirdLife Africa Secretariat: Email: jane.gaithuma@birdlife.or.ke
Notes to Editors:
- BirdLife International has launched a Think Pink campaign against the soda ash development, which is being proposed by TATA-owned Lake Natron Resources. Details of the campaign are here http://www.birdlife.org/action/campaigns/lake_natron_flamingos/index.html
- Soda ash is the active ingredient in washing soda. The chemical name for it is sodium carbonate.
- The Environmental and Social Impact Assessment produced by consultants employed by Lake Natron Resources has been examined by the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania. The statement excluded consideration of income from wildlife tourism and the likelihood that the development would attract flamingo predators, particularly Marabou storks.
- Marabou storks eat flamingo eggs and young and can cause entire colonies to desert their nests. Attacks by a maximum of 17 Marabou storks caused greater flamingos to desert nests at Lake Elmenteita in south-central Kenya three years running. These storks are common urban scavengers. The soda ash plant would provide them with a permanent food supply.
- A study by the East African Lake Natron Consultative Group found that tourists drawn to the region to see lesser flamingos contributed US$12m annually. Tourist to Lake Natron alone is worth US$500,000 per annum excluding associated spending. Visits to the area are likely to increase if the soda ash proposal is rejected.
- Lesser flamingos attract tourists to the national parks of Kenya and Ethiopia as well as Tanzania.
- In 2001, the Tanzanian government listed Lake Natron as a Ramsar Site under the international Ramsar wetlands treaty. Lake Natron has also been designated an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International.
- Up to 30 per cent of the population of chestnut-banded plover is found on the Lake Natron site plus important numbers of Cape teal, marsh sandpiper and little stint. Lesser kudu and gerenuk are mammals likely to be affected together with the endemic fish species, Oreochromis alcalicus.
- The lesser flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor, stands between four and five feet high but is the smallest of the six flamingo species. With the greater flamingo, it is one of two Old World flamingo species. The clearest difference between the two species is that the greater flamingo has a pale pink bill with a contrasting black tip while the lesser flamingo has a dark crimson bill. The lesser flamingo is also shorter and redder in colour.
- The species has long pink legs and a long neck. Its large body is rose-pink, the colour coming from pigments in its food, the bacteria Spirulina. The birds eat by holding their bills upside down in the water. Flamingo bills are shaped to filter tiny food items within the bill using a specially adapted tongue.
- Lesser flamingos feed on Spirulina which is commonly known as blue-green algae although in fact it is bacteria. Spirulina sometimes gives Lake Natron a pink or red colour. It grows only in salty lakes. Lake Natron is known as a soda lake because of its high concentration of sodium carbonate.
- Flamingos live until they are about 40 years old but only breed every five or six years. Non-breeding birds do not return to breeding sites until they are ready to breed again.
- The bird lays one chalky white egg on mounds built of mud. Chicks join crèches soon after hatching which can number more than 100,000 birds. The crèches are marshaled by adult birds which lead youngsters by foot to fresh water to drink, a journey that can be longer than 20 miles.
- There are thought to be between 2.2 million and 3.25m lesser flamingos in the world of which between 1.5m and 2.5m are found in East Africa. The global population is declining because of habitat loss and contamination. Lack of breeding at Lake Natron will reduce the region’s population.
- The lesser flamingo is classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List 2004. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES and on Appendix II of the Convention for the Conservation of Migratory Species.