THE Assistant Director In-charge of the National Anti-poaching Unit in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Mr Robert Mande, has directed the Pasiansi Wildlife Training Institute (PWTI), to come up with news skills and techniques in their curriculum so as to end poaching and introduce a wildlife management course.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of a workshop to review the curriculum of Pasiansi Wildlife Training Institute (PWTI), Mr Mande said the institute's curriculum should provide new techniques to the students to empower them to combat poaching more effectively.

He said his ministry had found it necessary to review the current curriculum and develop a new course of wildlife management, tour guiding and security.

The assistant director stated that poaching and Illegal trade in fauna and flora continued to deprive Tanzania of its valuable resources which constitute sustainable sources of revenue for the government.

Mr Mande noted that various national initiatives must be put in place to support the fight against poaching and illegal trade as well as to minimize the negative impact caused by poaching.

He disclosed through the report of Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE Tanzania 2018), that the killing of elephants had been reduced from 193 per year in 2013 to 19 in 2018 and that the animals' population was now increasing.

On her part, the PWTI Principal, Ms Lowael Damalu, said that their current curriculum would end in September this year, thus prompting a revision.

Ms Damalu added that they would introduce a new course of wildlife management as directed in their new year of academic 2019/2020, and had also received various comments from stakeholders calling on the institute to introduce the course.