By Bazilius Emmanuel – Art in Tanzania internship
Environmental Advocacy Program
Introduction
Environment is a famous word nowadays, as it refers to different settings, from local to international ones. The origin of term environment is from the French word “environed “which means surroundings, so people may use environment to refer to everything found in a certain location.
-Also, in geography, words like nature, habitat, domain and surrounding are synonyms of the term environment.
Meaning of environment
Our environment is the set of complex physical, chemical and biological elements, conditions and factors that affect an organism and determine its form of survival. It comprises all surroundings in which an organism lives and interacts with living things and non-living materials like water and air.
-The environment is dynamic depending on the interaction of living organisms with non-living materials. Also, the environment is the sum of the total conditions surrounding human beings at a particular time and space.
Natural resources are derived from the environment, So the interaction between human beings and other living organisms has more to do with the environment(which can be good or bad for the sustainability of the environment)
N.B The interaction on the earth is what creates the environment, and environmental interactions are continuous. See the diagram below:
Components of the environment
From the above explanation, you can see that everything surrounding human beings in a particular time and space is a component of our environment. But geographers have tried to categorize all these environmental components into three, which are;
(a) Physical components include all naturally occurring environmental elements like air, water, mountains, etc.
(b) Biological components, i.e., abiotic and biotic components, including all living and non-living things. See diagram below;
( c) Cultural components include all man-made parts of the environment such as buildings, population, farms, etc.
The diagram shows the three environment components;
IMPORTANCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Our environment has a vital role in our daily survival. The environment plays an essential role in the survival of all living things by:
(a) Supporting agriculture for food production•Climate and soil is essential during farming
(b) Temperature modification and climatic change control•The presence of trees and water bodies is essential for temperature regulation. Also, good agricultural practices have much to do with controlling climatic change.
(c) Natural resources are derived from the environment. • Resources like medicine, air, water, and minerals are essential human needs, and they are obtained from natural resources derived from the environment.
(d) Minimize and or prevent disasters•swamps and marshes act as reservoirs of more water which may lead to flood, also air and plants absorb much gases emitted from human activities which will have more contribution to global warming.
(e) Absorption of our pollutants • Environmental components like air, land, and water absorb pollutants, such as poisons, radiation, and chemicals, which affect our healthy survival.
(f) Food web and food chain advantage: All food is obtained from environmental components, so there is no potential for life without the environment.
(g) Disease prevention: Environmental components like air, water, and minerals are required by the human body for proper growth and to rescue our bodies from diseases. Table salt decreases the chances of diseases like goitre.
So, we can conclude by saying that the environment gives us life.
See the diagram, which shows how living organisms interact with environmental components.
It shows the mutual benefit in the ecosystem.
TANZANIAN ENVIRONMENT
The environment of Tanzania includes its’ land and marine surfaces, which cover approximately kilometre squares 947.303. That also includes its’ natural resources endowment found in Tanzania’s mainland and Tanzanian Islands.
As our discussion focuses on the environment in Tanzania, we also need to get insights into the different things that form Tanzania’s climate.
Below are significant components of Tanzania’s environment, including its’ natural resources:
(a) Population, which is approximated at 56. 3 million by 2018
(b) Water bodies, which cover 6.49% of the whole of Tanzania’s land. These water bodies include;
(i) Some parts of the Indian Ocean
(ii) More than 20 lakes include Victoria, Tanganyika, Nyasa, Rukwa and Natron.
(iii) More than 75 rivers include Kagera, Malagalasi; Pangani, Wami, Rufiji, Ruvuma, Tarangire and Songwe
(iv) Natural ponds and artificial lakes
(c) Seven World Heritage Sites (as per UNESCO), which are: Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Serengeti National Park, Kondoa Rock Art Site, Stone Town of Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro National Park, Selous Game Reserve and Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Ruins of Songo Mnara
(d) Sixteen National Parks, including lake Manyara National park, Ruaha National Park and Serengeti National Park
(e) Seven Historical Sites include Kilwa Kisiwani, Mbozimeteorite and Olduvai Gorge & Laetoli, among others
(f) Islands include Saanane Island National Park, Zanzibar Island, Pangani town and Ukerewe island
(g) Marine Parks and Reserves like Chumbe Island Marine Sanctuary, Dar es Salaam Marine Reserves and Tanga Coelacanth Marine Park, among others
(h) Wildlife Management Areas, which includes IpoleWMA, Mbomipa WMA and Buninge WMA, among others
(i) Cave, Gorges and Rocks like Amboni cave, Kalambofalls, Nyombe region, Nyumba Nitu Natural forests and Kaporogwe falls
(j)Twelve Tanzania Forest Reserves
(k) Thirty-two Game Reserves
(l)More than two thousand mountains and highlands, including Mount Meru and Kilimanjaro, among others
(m)More than twenty mines includes Geita Gold Mine(GGM-Geita), Bulyakulu & Mwadui (Shinyanga) and Kabanga Nickel(Kagera)
(n) More than five famous and important Cities and Towns, including Mwanza( Rock City), Arusha (Tourist City), Mbeya(Green City) and Dar es Salaam (island City), among others
(o)Biological diversity includes more than 75 endemic species like Kihansi Tod and horned chameleon
(p) Agricultural land and rangelands
From above, it is seen how Tanzania’s environment is endowed with ample valuable natural and man-made resources.
Tanzania’s environment is an engine for sustainable development for Tanzania and the World. While Tanzania is blessed with more natural and man-made resources distributed throughout the Country, the friendly and sustainable exploitation of these resources can benefit Tanzanians.
Furthermore, We are born to create a better future. We must use our environment and its’ God-given resources for sustainable development.
See the following maps:
Tanzania Lakes and Rivers:
Locations of the major national parks
MAJOR ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH ENVIRONMENT IN TANZANIA
These issues are related to the unsafe exploitation of the above resources. These issues include:
(a) Illegal and unsustainable wildlife exploitation
(b) Overgrazing and unsustainable range management
(c) Poor agriculture practices like bush burning, vertical ploughing across steep slopes, failure to adopt crop rotation, failure to maintain adequate vegetative cover, inadequate use of organic fertilizer and lack of sufficient conservation measures
(d) Land conflicts
(e)Poor mining techniques
(f)Climatic change includes melting of ice at Mount Kilimanjaro and fall of water depth at Ruaha river
(g)Major Six environmental problems in Tanzania which are;
(i)Land degradation
(ii)Lack of accessible good quality water for both urban and rural inhabitants
(iii) Environmental pollution
(iv) Deforestation
(v) Deterioration of aquatic systems
(vi) Loss of wildlife habitats and biological diversity
-The joint measure is required to be taken from local,
At the national and international levels, we aim to remove or reduce the above harmful issues relating to resource use for sustainable and inclusive development of Tanzania and the world at large.
REASONS FOR ENVIRONMENT CONCERN IN TANZANIA
From the above circumstances, it is clear that Tanzania needs to have strong environmental concerns to focus on eliminating the negative impacts on Tanzanians from endowed natural resources.
The reasons for environmental concern in Tanzania include the following but not limited to:
(a) Despite 55% of Tanzania’s agricultural potential, only 6% of Tanzania’s total land is under agricultural activities. So, Tanzania and the world need to set strategies to enhance and expand agricultural activities in Tanzania. (b) With more natural and artificial resources, Tanzania is still dependent on agriculture, which accounts for more than 40% of Tanzania’s GDP and employs more than 75% of Tanzania’s workforce
(c) Energy use of power: although Tanzania is endowed with many fossil fuels, waterfalls and rapids, more than 90% of Tanzania depends on forest-related materials as their energy source.
(d) Population distribution, with 47.7 kilometres squares population density, but in actual sense, Tanzania’s population is an unequal distribution where there are disparities in internal population densities between urban and rural areas due to rural-urban migration associated with unequal distribution of man-made resources.
-Also, more people are living in highland areas and interacting regions like near Lake Victoria therefore the government of Tanzania needs to deal with this environmental issue
(e) Also, from the six major environmental problems affecting Tanzania, ecological solutions are required to rescue Tanzania’s environment from other disasters that may arise due to those six ecological problems.
Conclusions and remarks
– We are a significant cause of environmental dynamism, so our actions must first assess its negative or positive impacts on our environment.
– As part of a dynamic environment, we are supposed to educate ourselves about all issues related to the environment and to take precautions toward any action that might harm our environment.
– The Government of Tanzania must sharpen the implementation of environmental and natural resource-related laws, policies and declarations.
