The Future Prospect of the Ecosystem

The most serious problem that the countries that take the main responsibilities of the maintenance and preservation of the ecosystem face is the explosion of human population. Undoubtedly, human impacts have played a major role in harming the natural structure of the ecosystem, which has been undisturbed for million years. As more people live close to the Serengeti ecosystem, more people depend on the resources that the ecosystem provides. For this reason, there has been a strong correlation between the increase of human population and the decrease of the wildlife population. The flood of human population into the areas around the ecosystem not only causes direct problems such as illegal hunting but also indirect problems such as spread of viral diseases and infections that the wildlife are not immune to. For example, Rinderpest had been the major killer of the wildlife population inhabiting in the Serengeti National Park for the past 100 years. Soon after the disappearance of the viral disease, another kind of viral disease known as Canine Distemper started spreading into the ecosystem as humans brought domestic canines and other livestock into the nearby areas. These diseases have driven the wildlife population in the Serengeti to near extinction. It is estimated that a Kenyan woman will have on average 4.7 children while in Tanzania the fertility rate is estimated to be 5.6 children per family. Although the total fertility rate in these countries has significantly dropped since the 1960s, at such a rate, the population will continue to increase, and the aforementioned problems such as the spread of viral diseases and illegal hunting will persist. As the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments experienced the negative consequences of the depletion of the revenue for the Serengeti National Park in the 1970s due to an unexpected drop of tourism, which resulted in the increase of illegal poaching and the near-extinction of buffalo, the two countries have made tremendous efforts at preserving the ecosystem. As a result, in the 2000s, the number of tourists have more than doubled since the 1980s, and the income from tourism is increasing at a steady rate of 6% annually. At such a rate, the revenue source for maintaining the Serengeti ecosystem will be stabilized and the human impacts that have been deteriorating the conditions of the ecosystem will reverse in the future.