KEY POINTS
- Programs like REDD+ and TFCG address deforestation and land degradation in Tanzania.
- Anti-poaching initiatives and community wildlife management are protecting biodiversity.
- Renewable energy and climate-smart agriculture are mitigating climate change impacts.
Tanzania, home to iconic natural landscapes like Mount Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti, and the Ngorongoro Crater, is renowned for its biodiversity and ecological significance.
But like most other countries, Tanzania has been experiencing several environmental issues such as deforestation, wildlife poaching and climate change.
In response to the threats, the following conservation measures have been taken by the government, local communities, and international organizations.
Efforts to control deforestation and land degradation
Tanzania continues to lose its forests due to agriculture, logging and charcoal business.
As a remedy, the government has developed policies such as the National Strategy for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), which seeks to protect forests while offering employment opportunities for people who depend on those forests.
REDD+ supports reforestation, proper management of land during and after the process, and monitoring forest that is against deforestation.
Organization like the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group (TFCG) are critical in combating land degradation through conservation in an organized community basis.
These efforts enable communities to properly use the forests and at the same time inform them of the importance of the actual practice of conservation.
The practice of restoring such land has also picked up through agroforestry interventions where farmers can plant trees for production while at the same time practicing production farming that checked on soil erosion and boosted on recovery of ecosystems.
Protecting wildlife and combatting poaching
Tanzania boasts of hospitable wildlife, and it plays a central role in the nation’s larger economy since it hosts millions of tourists every year.
But recent activities such as poaching and human-wildlife interferences endanger the lives of elephant, rhino, lions and many others.
In response, Tanzania has stepped up efforts to fight poaching through increasing the use of specialized anti-poaching ranger teams and use of modern technologies in surveillance.
The Tanzania Wildlife Authority (TAWA) partners with agencies such as World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in increasing its work of wildlife conservation through surveillance, monitoring and community sensitization.
There are also localism concepts in conservation programs. In the Community Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) the government rewards communities for preserving wildlife habitats by sharing revenue from tourism and their training on efficient usage of the land.
Apart from these efforts, it protects the kind of species that is endangered thus minimizing, the unlawful hunting that is encouraged by the profitability in the market.
Addressing climate change and promoting renewable energy
Tanzania is very sensitive to the impacts of climate change such as; increase in temperature; irregularity of rainfall; and occurrences of drought which have impacts on agriculture and water resources.
In avoiding these impacts, the country has embraced renewable energy form of power as a way of avoiding fossil energy.
Such organizations as the Rural Energy Agency (REA) work towards the incorporation of Solar, Wind as well as hydro electric power hence pushing towards environmental and focalist economic sustainability.
Furthermore, Tanzania has committed itself under the Paris Agreement to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases through measures including sustainable land management for agriculture and in the production of energy from the forests.
Efforts to promote climate-smart agriculture, which integrates climate resilience with productivity, are helping farmers adapt to changing conditions while reducing environmental impacts.
