Today was a most incredible day.
First thing this morning, while having a sneaky 75p [1.5 days average earnings] coffee at the best hotel in town, little did I know what was in store for the rest of the day. Arriving at the office I was told we were going on a safari (this is the term for any trip, not just looking at animals).
The safari involved going about 1 hour by tarmac road outside Arusha, then 25km on a dirt track, then I think 10km on no road at all. The only way of navigating was by heading in the direction of a specific hill. There was much debate in Swahili as to which hill was the correct hill to follow. Needless to say we took a 4×4.
I have never been in such a remote place in my life, in every direction there was literally nothing but space, and you could see for miles and miles and miles. No buildings, no power lines, no agriculture. No nothing.
The job in hand for today was to establish the exact coordinates of the area of land using a GPS reader. In addition to being a micro-financier Mr Sauni is something of a consultant. He has a background as an engineer and seemingly a specialist in geology. He is also very good friends with a certain successful businessman in the constructions industry based in Arusha. Sauni had somehow identified this area as having a large deposit of good quality limestone. The plan is for the somehow rather loaded businessman, who will remain nameless, to establish a limestone quarry and cement works here – producing 150 tons of cement a day. A bold enterprise indeed.
The trip home was eventful too, including a hardly surprising puncture, getting caught in a herd of cows and having to wait for a rather amateurish rescue operation. By the way the road in the picture is an official public highway – and the way it is planed for 150 tons of cement to pass each day. You can imagine the scale of this man’s ambitions.
The trip made me think a lot about the balance of economic growth and the damage it will cause to the environment. But really, can we condemn a project which will employ 1000s of people, bring export and tax revenue to Tanzania and reduce the cost of cement, on the grounds of environmentalism?? I’m not sure. What I do know is that the unspoiled beauty of this patch of Africa is squarely endangered.
I once put the environmental movement vs. economic development question to our good friend, Mr. Reason. He snuffed it off and said that nothing was more important than the ecosystem that supports us. I see where he’s going, but I think there must be some compromise.
I even feel a fee bit sorry for the Chinese, surely allowing them a sniff of economic growth is a worthy cause – and yet, they’re considered to be the big threat in increasing carbon emissions.
its almost a non-debate in’t it? in a commercial society economic development has to be the driver, its the only way it can work.
you can’t put environment in front of economics with only moral/altuistic backup; can’t make people save a tree instead of eat a meal.
so surely what you do is create the economic conditions to achieve the environmental benefit, right? whether by taxing, or subsidising etc depends on the situation. surely if its worth more financially to protect an area of forest than to cut it down then thats what will happen. this could happen if you had to pay forfeits to destroy certain areas, or if you were rewarded for not developing certain areas (perhaps subsidised by taxes from other developments).
likewise I gues if another building material is cheaper than cement [or made cheaper by regulations], then no cement factory.
I suspect things will move this way as govmts slowly realise the serious of our situation, but it’ll take decades.
What do you mean you’ve never been anywhere so isolated? what about suffolk?
nice cows
You really look like a hunter in that first pic! Do you prefer killing animals in England or there?