There is no way whatsoever if the
country wants to keep its environment can get the best standard required. Laws
in the country are not enough to make such changes to take place in then country,
unless otherwise others are adopted to strengthen the situation. In order to
save Tanzania, Members of Parliament (MPs) have, without objection endorsed
ratification of the Paris climate agreement, making Tanzania the 176th country
aiming to avoid the most devastating effects of climate change through cutting
carbon emissions. Minister of State in the Vice-President’s Office (Union and
Environment), Mr January Makamba told parliamentarians here yesterday that the
government has resolved to ratify the agreement that it signed in New York on
April 22, 2016. “Considering that Tanzania is striving for an industrial
economy, the Paris agreement will stimulate use of natural gas, adaptation of
clean technology, human resources development and push for sustainable sources
of energy that protect the environment,” he said. Tanzania is one of the
championing countries in environment conservation. Government details indicate
that the East African country had allocated over 30 per cent of its land for
the purpose. Since signing the agreement and other conventions had received at
least 300 million US dollars to support the Tanzania Meteorological Agency,
training some 200 professionals on climate resilience, establishment of the
Centre for Climate Change Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam and the
implementation of the regional Lake Victoria project. The Minister said in his
submission, Tanzania is already experiencing adverse impacts of climate change.
Current climate variability and change resulting iextreme weather events
already lead to major economic costs in Tanzania.
Minister of State in the Vice-President’s Office (Union and
Environment), Mr January Makamba
The Paris agreement, however,
is aimed at strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change
by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius
above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature
increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. “Implementation of the agreement
will consider equity, capacity, history and status of the country’s economy. Under
this agreement, Tanzania will not be forced or tied in generating carbon
emissions, but will work with other member countries willingly,” Mr Makamba
assured. The Minister noted that there were more benefits signing and ratifying
the agreement that it is now. Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Trade and
Environment also emphasized the core reason is to cut carbon emissions that is
causing huge tall on climate and economy. “We have been witnesses of the impact
of climate change. From droughts, to floods and from soil erosion to increases
in sea levels,” said Innocent Bashungwa, the Committee’s Vice- Chairman. Nkenge
Lawmaker Ambassador Diodorus Kamala contributing to the debate yesterday said
the agreement put Tanzania among 78 countries in the world, that are to benefit
from the 195tr/- allocated to support global climate change alliance. But, he
was quick to warn that Tanzania had a duty to play, by allocating sufficient
funds from its own resources to support climate change resilience and
adaptation measures. The suggestion was equally aired by the Shadow Minister
for Environment, Mr Ali Saleh, adding further that the State should set
programmes to tap funds allocated by global funds to support climate change
actions. Meanwhile, MPs called for urgent measures to address the impact of
climate change which now affects millions of Tanzanians, especially in rural
villages. Debating the Paris agreement, lawmakers pointed out hundreds of
people are increasingly becoming restless owing to the impact of climate
change.
