Arusha — Modern technologies can enable Tanzania to mitigate against the severe impacts of drought and other climate-related calamities.

Alfonso Lenhardt, the US ambassador to the country said during his recent tour of Serengeti that impacts of failed rains were at times catastrophic because of lack of means to tap water from various sources.

He said Tanzania has vast reservoirs of fresh water available in the world but millions of its people do not have sufficient supplies as they lacked relevant technologies. "With sufficient technologies, Tanzania can tap water from underground or other sources and avoid the impact of drought in future" he said after inaugurating school buildings in Ngorongoro district last week.

Citing lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, Nyasa and other water bodies as well as numerous rivers and streams, the ambassador hastened to say that up to 20 per cent of the world's fresh water could be in Tanzania. But he said the country was often hard hit by the impacts of drought while millions of its people and livestock do not have sufficient supplies of the precious liquid even in the best of times.

"The problem is not availability but distribution of water...how do we get water from where it is?" he asked, citing recurrent droughts in Ngorongoro and much of the Maasailand. He said more and more children in the area should be sent to school to enable them gain knowledge and necessary skills to tackle the water problem in their home villages.

Knowledge can also help to preserve the Maasai culture and provide proper health to the people and protect cattle and other animals from diseases. Mr.Lenhardt said if properly nurtured children from Maasailand could provide the critical mass for future leaders, engineers, scientists, medical specialists and professionals of various disciplines.

"Who knows whether one of these kids is a future president or father or mother of future president. This is possible because they represent the future" he pointed out. The US envoy pledged that his country wanted to develop strong partnership with Tanzania because the two countries have historic links dating back to thousands of years.

"The answer is simple. We were all linked sisters and brothers. We all came from the continent of Africa" he told the villagers and pupils under a tree shade. He commended the Tanzanian government for repatriating rhinos to its protected areas in order to rebuild stocks which were wiped down by poachers years ago.

He visited an enclosure in Serengeti National Park where rhinos recently translocated there from South Africa have been temporarily kept before being released to the wild. The project is a partnership between the Tanzania government and South Africa through their respective national parks authorities and ministries responsible for wildlife conservation.

Others are the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), the Grumeti Fund and other local, regional and international conservation bodies. The US envoy took the occasion to stress the importance of stepping up conservation of the Serengeti NP and its ecosystem. The 14,000 square kilometre park is not only the largest and oldest of the 14 others scattered across the country; it attracts more tourists than any other.

The Serengeti wildlife splendour include largest concentration of mammals and an annual migration of wildebeest and other ungulates across Mara river into Maasai Mara game reserve in Kenya. He cautioned that the proposed tarmac road through the vast park should be reconsidered because it can have dire consequences "for the wonderful and beautiful Serengeti".

He suggested that if possible an alternative route should be sought for the road project in order to preserve the famous game sanctuary which has global significance. Recently the Tanzania government announced that it would go ahead with its plans to construct a tarmac road linking in Arusha and Musoma.

The road would pass through the remote Lake Natron area, Loliondo and Mugumu townships.Officials say it would open up the economic potential of the remote area.