Rampant illegal logging is threatening ecological disaster in Tanzania’s pristine forests, according to a recent report by the International Development Research Center in Canada. Police have begun to set up patrols on major roads in an effort to halt the movement of illegal logs, and authorities are trying to get local communities living near forests to help with conservation efforts. Philemon Luhanjo, the secretary of natural resources, says he plans to start punishing forestry staff who have been abetting the illegal logging. Overgrazing is also depleting the nation’s forests, and populations of some endangered animals are being decimated by communities of logging employees who subsist on bush meat.
