Tanzania needs to reinforce measures on environmental conservation, says an expert

Tanzania will require applying extra efforts in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions between 10 – 20 percent by 2030, an environmentalist from the Vice-President’s office has said.  Richard Muyungi, who is the Director of Environment said early this week in Dar es Salaam at the workshop on national policy dialogue on Climate Smart Agriculture which was held at Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF) centre. Muyungi said in his paper presentation and listed down major factors to be concentrated on that, the energy sector in the country need to eexplore and invest in the energy diversification system in order to reduce overall energy emissions intensity while ensuring increased availability,  affordability and reliability. He also noted that the promotion of low carbon technologies for power generation wind, solar (and biomass based sources need to be increased. Another factor he noted in his presentation is that there is a need to expand use of natural gas for cooking and thermal services through improvement of natural gas supply throughout the country. On forestry an expert noted that, the process requires enhancing and up-scaling implementation of participatory forest management programme. These includes to facilitate effective and coordinated implementation of actions which will enhance contributing of the entire forest sector including forest policies, national forest conservation programmes and other related activities such like strengthening national wide tree planting. Other initiatives include strengthening protection and conservation of natural forests to maintain ecological integrity and continued benefit from service provision of forests. 

Tree planting is one way of conserving environment

Conservation of carbon stock. Strengthening national wide tree planting programmes and strengthening protection and conservation of natural forests to maintain ecological integrity and continued benefit from service provision of forests.Conservation of carbon stock. The dialogue which attended by stakeholders on environmental issues in the country aimed at discussing impacts of climate change and progress on its mitigation through Climate Smart Agriculture in Tanzania. Environmental degradation and climate change are some of the most pressing global challenges for the contemporary world. In many African countries, climate change is strongly manifested through its devastating impacts on agriculture and food systems. In these countries climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approach is vital for reducing the negative impacts of climate change on food supplies, livelihoods and economies. Climate Smart Agriculture is also vital in increasing adaptive capacity of African farming communities to hostile weather patterns and climatic conditions. An initial estimate of immediate needs for building adaptive capacity and enhancing resilience against future climate change is US$600 – 650 million per year.  By 2030, financing needs of up to US$1 billion per year are envisaged for adaptation and potentially more if further accelerated development is included.  For mitigation actions, substantial financial resources and technologies are needed to sustain investment and sustainable development in all sectors. Estimated costs are up to US$ 60 billion by 2030. Muyungi says that the extent to which Tanzania will deliver on her submitted contributions will depend on the fulfillment by the international community of the all the promise related to financial, technology transfer, capacity building and other international support.