Source: Good News Network

Conservationists are rejoicing over Tanzania’s latest announcement that they will be protecting a globally unique forest ecosystem in East Africa, following research that demonstrated it is under threat from illegal activities including tree-cutting for charcoal and the poaching of elephants and other animals.
Previous research had shown that the Magombera Forest in Tanzania could disappear by 2018 if action wasn’t taken to protect it.
A conservation program, called the Udzungwa Forest Project and the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG) and with help from local villages, demonstrated the significance of the unique wildlife and importance of the land to the people of the region.
In 2018, the Udzungwa Forest Project and TFCG, reached their target of $1 million to protect the forest in partnership with nearby villages and the Tanzania Forest Services Agency.
The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, with financial and scientific support from the several conservation groups, will now create a 6,463-acre Magombera Nature Reserve to protect the plants and animals of the forest.
“Protection for these lands follows more than 40 years of research and consultation,” said project leader, Dr. Andy Marshall of the University of York. “When I first began work in the forest 15 years ago, it was clearly a biologically important place, but it rang with the sound of axes and machetes.
“Over the past few years…
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