Samia directs the public to adapt good environmental care

VICE-President Samia Suluhu Hassan has directed the public in all levels to form small environmental committees to supervise and implement environmental bylaws and ensure forest and water source conservation. The VP also called on all nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and the general public to ensure water sources are preserved for the livelihood of all Tanzanians and wildlife. Addressing journalists at her residency, as the world marked the World Environment Day on Sunday, VP Hassan said the small committees to be formed from village level all the way to regional level should work to ensure the environment is protected. “We human beings are the source of destruction of the environment. We fell trees and destroy water sources. We must ensure that we restore and protect the forests and water sources because they are our livelihood together with wildlife,” she explained. She added that internationally the World Environment Day is being marked in Angola with the theme, ‘Go Wild For Life - Save the Environment’, which puts emphasis on efforts to protect wildlife which are important part of the environment. 

VICE-President Samia Suluhu Hassan

“It should be remembered that President John Magufuli has pledged unwavering support and effort in the fight against poaching to curb the vice in the country,” she explained noting that the national theme: “Let’s preserve water sources for the life of our nation.” Mama Samia who has become the first woman to become the Vice President since independence time explained that water is life to all creations including human beings and wildlife, noting that the national theme highlights the extent of destruction of water sources in the country. She emphasized that environmental challenges have destroyed water sources, the major ones being agriculture, livestock, mining and cutting of trees for charcoal making, which have lead to reduction of water streaming into the country’s rivers in the past five decades. “If this destruction of forests and water sources continues, our major rivers in the country such as Rufiji, Pangani, Ruaha and others which are dependent upon by Tanzanians, will dry up within the next 15 years,” Ms Hassan noted. World Environmental Day is commemorated every year on June 5, a day that was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. The Conference resulted in the establishment of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The World Environmental Day’s objective is to encourage people to become active supporters of sustainable and equitable living, to promote awareness and have an understanding that communities play a central role in changing attitudes towards environmental issues.