Is the climate change harmful to our planet?

Forestry, biodiversity, and ecosystems 

The forestry sector is leveraged with the agriculture of the Tanzanian developmental economy, representing 90% of the country’s energy resources and ½ of its supplies in construction materials. Because of the high dependency on agriculture and the rapid population growth, pressure on the environment and natural resources have increased mainly in the last few years. Deforestation is becoming one of Tanzania’s significant challenges. 

UNEP is taking action to improve institutional and regulatory frameworks for safeguarding protected areas and preserving biodiversity. To fight against deforestation and deteriorating environmental quality, the institution is focusing on many interventions: 

• Mainstreaming ecological concerns into development plans

  • Facilitating Environmental laws and regulations

  • Scaling up environmental protection initiatives

As well, to protect natural resources and avoid ecosystem degradation, UNEP actively works on: 

• Improving the conservation of forest biodiversity and ecosystems         

• Support efforts to combat poaching and illegal wildlife trade     

• Scaling up sustainable land management practices

• Supporting community-based forest management initiatives 

• Promoting conservation agriculture

Finally, UNEP is highly supportive and promotes the REDD+ program. This program creates a financial value for the carbon stored in forests, incentivising developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development. Developing countries would receive results-based payments for results-based actions. REDD+ extends beyond deforestation and forest degradation, encompassing the roles of conservation, sustainable forest management, and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks.  

Sustainable Land and Watershed Management 

According to the UNEP, Tanzania faces challenges due to its rapid development, expansion and demographic growth. Those challenges are the following: 

• Unplanned human settlements     
• Encroachment into forest areas   
• Inappropriate farming and livestock management practices       
• Unregulated mining activities       
• poor inter-sectoral cooperation   
• weak stakeholder linkages            
• poorly planned and uncoordinated action 

To address these challenges, UNEP and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) will draw on the example of the Sustainable Land Management (SLM) program implemented in other countries. 

Successful countries. Tanzania’s limited financial resources and inadequate capacity remain key barriers to this program. Both institutions will mainly focus on building institutional capacity and strengthening stakeholder coordination. They will implement practical SLM interventions to address land degradation in forests, rangelands, and arable land. Finally, they will promote watershed (hydraulic pool) management interventions to highlight environmental challenges to the Tanzanian community. 

Climate change adaptation and mitigation

As a result of climate change, Tanzania will face an increase in extreme events, including droughts, floods, rising sea levels, and dwindling water sources, as well as impacts on the agricultural, energy, and health sectors. UNDP’ss plan proposed support by promoting sustainable strategies through high-capacity building initiatives and establishing proper institutional, policy and financial frameworks in collaboration with all key stakeholders, including the private sector and at the local level, implementing small-scale climate change adaptation projects to create livelihood opportunities, particularly in the agricultural industry, as the population depends on rain-fed agriculture as a source of livelihood, income, and consumption. 

For example, promote and help the IITA (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture) in their work with farmers to get agricultural expertise. Debate sessions are organised to discuss essential topics such as “What crop can I grow with this irregular rainfall season?”. The ultimate goal is to help farmers achieve sustainable agriculture. 

Moreover, the UNDP aims to focus primarily on implementing the outcomes of the COP21 Paris Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It will support the government in creating a framework for implementing INDCS (Intended Nationally Determined Contribution) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Sustainable energy 

To address the development of the fossil industry and the transition to sustainable energy, the UNDP implemented the SE4ALL (Sustainable Energy for All) program, aiming to be achieved by 2030 in Tanzania. This program focuses on three targets: 

• Ensuring universal access to modern energy
  • Doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency
  • Doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix

The institution mobilised significant political support before RIO+20 and continued to provide coordination and technical assistance around those three targets. 

Thanks to the UNDP, sustainable energy access for all in Tanzania is progressing rapidly. An action agenda and an investment prospectus have been created to coordinate the implementation of the SE4ALL initiative. It brings poorer communities appropriate, reliable, and affordable energy technologies. This can be made possible mainly by improving the policy and regulatory framework, institutional framework, and human capacity, strengthening the M&E (Monitoring and Evaluation) framework, and generating relevant data. 

Resilience and disaster risk reduction

Resilience is the ability of a system, community, or society to resist and adapt to hazards. Over 70% of all-natural disasters are hydro-meteorological, and significant disasters have included droughts, floods, and epidemic diseases, all of which affect humans and wildlife.

As an example, let’ss take the “”El Niño phenomeno”” that occurred in Tanzania in 2011. It causes massive floods, which wash away crop farms and damage transport infrastructure, such as roads and railways. As well as destroying houses and making people homeless. It also increased diseases. We have seen the impact of an RCP 8.5 scenario; phenomena like” “El Niñ”‘ will occur increasingly frequently. 

In response, the UNDP proposes strengthening the institutional framework of meteorological institutions, including the establishment of a 24/7 Emergency Centre for climatic disaster management. It also suggests improving weather and climate forecasting infrastructure by procuring highly sophisticated hydro-met technologies to enhance the collection of hydro-met data. 

They also want to improve data analysis, interpretation, and customisation to provide relevant information to farmers, urban and rural dwellers, and aviation groups. Ultimately, developing standard operating procedures (SOPs) will enhance coordination among pertinent institutions of responding to disasters. 

2. Climate Action Network International implications for Tanzania

Moreover, in addition to the United Nations institutions, other NGOs stand out for their innovative projects and responses to the global warming threat. It’s the case of Climate Action Network (CAN) International, which is very active in Tanzania. 

Climate Action Network Annual Strategy Session 2020 in Arusha

In February 2020, I organised the Annual Strategy Session on Climate Change in Arusha. This event, which brought together several prominent climate actors, was an opportunity to discuss two major topics: “What does it mean for society/funders to build power in this climate emergency?” and “What are they doing to respond to the crisis, and what do they believe is CAN’SS’s role?”

Through numerous debates and workshops, all these actors agreed on the priority areas where investment is needed, in terms of funding, human resources, and collaborative strength. CAN and other NGOs should focus on climate impacts and people to ensure governments urgently expose and undermine the fossil fuel industry. 

Depending on the pandemic, significant events are expected to occur in the next five years. These gatherings involving actors from all over the world (government, NGOs, the private and public sector industry) will be an opportunity to put these two issues on a larger scale to take urgent action for our planet.

CAN interventions and actual projects

In the meantime, while awaiting those gatherings, CAN has already started its fight for the climate by working on diverse projects and implementing solutions for the Tanzanian community. Here are the majors: 

The Water Purification & Biogas Plant (TAHUDE Foundation) is an initiative aimed at building low-carbon and resilient communities by providing access to clean drinking water and energy. 

Climate-Smart Agriculture (ACT) is a community-led action agricultural initiative that trains farmers on climate-smart agriculture techniques such

as water conservation (bases/pots technique), a short harvesting period, and intercropping and mulching materials. 

Climate-Smart Coffee Farming by Solidaridad is a community-led initiative that trains coffee farmers on climate-smart coffee farming practices, including developing pest-resistant methods, water harvesting and conservation, short harvesting cycle crops, nursery practices, intercropping, and shade coffee management. 

Water for Livestock (Oikos) is part of the ECOBOMA initiative, a project aimed at building the adaptive capacity of vulnerable Tanzanian communities to cope with the adverse effects of climate change and reduce poverty in rural areas. 

 Tree Planting & Forest Conservation (Arumeru District Government)

Media Training Bootcamp: a practical skills session to build the capacity and strengthen the members’ ability to be spokespersons and deliver powerful messages for press conferences and interviews. 

Leadership & Diversity and Building a Grassroots-Driven Network Bootcamp: the objective of this session is to build members’ knowledge and understanding of how to link policies with people and navigate power and privilege to facilitate diverse inclusion and create safe, engaging spaces for grassroots leadership organising across CAN. 

Developing Funding Proposals Bootcamp: This session aims to provide members with concrete ideas and shared thinking on sound and effective fundraising. The boot camp facilitated discussions on key elements of fundraising, including a compelling elevator pitch and strategies for approaching funders and maintaining open communication lines.

Fossil Fuels Non-Proliferation Treaty Bootcamp: This session provided participants with a background and overview of the Non-Proliferation Treaty regarding the Fossil Fuels Initiative. This initiative builds on the experience and outcomes of the Non-Proliferation Treaty on Nuclear as a basis and aims to adapt them to addressing fossil fuels. The session explored a set of high-leverage strategies that this initiative will galvanise around, such as the phase-out of fossil fuels and shifting narratives on fossil fuels, strengthening local action to stand against fossil fuel expansion, and encouraging international cooperation to stop fossil fuel proliferation through a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Following the announcement of these projects, we can better understand the institution’s involvement and dedication to changing the habits of the Tanzanian community, thereby providing them with a more promising future than the RCP 8.5 scenario. However, one last project caught my attention and demonstrated the long-term impact of the vision that the institution is trying to establish. This CAN project is the Climate and Livelihood Centre in Bagamoyo. This green village aims to connect scientists with communities to provide new initiatives. We organised many activities, ranging from cultural events to environmental workshops. Everybody is welcome, regardless of their work sector (e.g., fishermen, students, small-scale farmers). The centre provides knowledge through training and teaching, the possibility of implementing improvements directly on site, and, most importantly, the centre strives to facilitate networking to achieve a more significant impact and reach a broader range of communities and partnerships. 

Organise three workshops in December 2019 to raise awareness and inform the participants on renewable energies (RE) and the necessity of transitioning to clean and affordable energy. One hundred twenty-four participants were representatives of women’s groups, local government authorities, and civil organisations. 

Because the baseline study was focused on their villages, people were highly interested. The survey showed that 92% of the households could not afford the high initial cost of renewable energy. However, community-saving groups might present an opportunity for decentralised energy. 42% were unaware of the potential of RE, only solar was common, and most of them (91% of the survey) used charcoal and firewood for cooking 

Due to deforestation, people face difficulties collecting firewood (it takes three hours to gather), and their only alternative is charcoal. Many village councils stated that they did not include RE in their agenda due to the lack of understanding and support from government and non-governmental stakeholders. 

Participants were inquisitive and interested in identifying achievable and long-term solutions. With the help of CAN in Tanzania, they establish and initiate RE clubs in primary and secondary schools, allowing children to be innovative and creative. Finally, those workshops promote awareness about RE. Shumina Rashidi, the councillor of the Bagamoyo District and a businesswoman, for example told the CAN team: “”In the workshop I learnt that cooking with gas is very cost effective – especially because I am living in Bagamoyo town, where it is available everywhere. I will use gas for cooking – not only for my health but also to protect the environment.” ”  

The critical point is to understand that these people have no idea what climate change is, why the globe is becoming warmer, and why we should care about fossil fuels. That’s why it’s essential to sensitise and inform them before taking action or implementing projects where they don’t understand the environmental purpose. 

3. Collaboration between NGOs and the Government 

During our interview, Adelaide Mkwawa said, “There is a huge friction between NGOs and the government. If NGOs tell the truth and the government disapproves, they can remove your NGO license.” NGOs must be careful and clever not to conflict with the government’s lack of investment and impact, while making them understand the importance of acting quickly and firmly. 

For Adelaide, who had also worked for the UNAT (United Nations Assistance Team), NGOs implemented numerous projects in response to the SDGs. Most of them have been undertaken by the Parliament Group of Sustainable Development to enter those propositions and projects into the government budget. However, when those projects and propositions are in the hands of the government, it’s challenging to track their progress due to the lack of information and the government’s limited ability to communicate effectively. Communication between institutions is abysmally poor due to a lack of resources and the inordinate amount of time that elapses between the transmission of the first information and its subsequent development. For Adelaide, this is one of the most significant issues, and that’s why projects in Tanzania take so much time. In her opinion, creating an effective communication sector will facilitate this collaboration between the government and NGOs. 

Investment in Climate change is all about communication and collaboration, even for the private and public sectors. Close cooperation between institutions on new methods and techniques to afford sustainable development is a key to moving forward. Some institutions in Tanzania have excellent ideas for fighting global warming while ensuring the country’s economic growth. This is the case of the TWIGA CEMENT INDUSTRY. 

4. Combining economic development and environmental responsibility: TWIGA CEMENT example

Tanzania Portland Cement Company Limited (TPCC), also known as Twiga Cement, is a cement manufacturing company. A member of the Heidelberg group listed on the Dar es Salaam stock exchange is the largest cement manufacturer and reports a company total asset of 322 billion TSH (approximately 141 million US$). 

The challenge for TWIGA is colossal. On the one hand, it is one of the biggest employers in the region, employing hundreds (more than 300 in 2019) of people. These jobs are indispensable for people’s survival from both a human and community perspective. Moreover, it is one of the main reasons for the region’s development, where their cement has enabled the construction of many buildings and most of the houses. However, it is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. It is at the origin of many environmental challenges, particularly in its production, including soil erosion, degradation of soil health, topography, deforestation, pollution of waterways, and the health and safety of workers and the community. 

We had the chance to visit it and realised some essential facts on that day. First, the presence of a military base on the company’s premises testifies to an economic state interest and voluntary security for the factory. Second, most workers’ passes also have a Chinese translation, which testifies to a financial interest from China. 

The most significant drivers of climate change are large corporations and industrial factories. Since TWIGA belongs to this category, they are taking responsibility for reducing their negative impact on the environment. Despite my preconceptions about this type of company, I was pretty surprised. 

TWIGA Cement counters its adverse action by giving nature what it had stolen from her. They founded the Nursery Project about ten years ago to tackle their environmental impact. To collect these precious stones to create cement, TWIGA has to dig hundreds of meters, thereby destroying the surrounding natural environment. When the digging space is exhausted, they fill it with soil and sand and replant some fast-growing tree species. These trees allow the soil to be re-fertilised, thus restoring the basic natural conditions. Once fertilizationtion has been completed, the fast-growing wood is cut for consumption and various new species are planted permanently. It is at this point that the nursery project appears.  

The nursery’s goal is to mitigate environmental damage and improve the health and well-being of underserved groups in the community, such as schoolchildren and prisoners, by providing free shade trees. The nursery enhances air quality and the environment at large through carbon sequestration. In the nursery, they have quite a lot of species going from the Averrhoa bilimbi (culinary interest and the leaves serve as a paste on itches, swelling, rheumatism, mumps, or skin eruption) to the moringa oleifera (Its young pods and leaves are used as vegetables. The seeds are also used to purify water, as a detergent, or as a medicinal plant.) and even mint. 

A barren plot of land near the cement production has been transformed into a lush haven for biodiverse plant species and crucial pollinator species. Many of the trees grown there have medicinal properties or produce fruit. To achieve their goal, TWIGA has undertaken this project, educating the community by engaging volunteers and hosting students to teach them how to maintain gardens and plant trees. They are also introducing the concept of sustainability to many local youths and providing them with the tools to plant trees in areas where they are needed. They are spreading the culture of sustainability and changing the mindsets of the young generations. 

However, challenges remain to overcome, such as the six volunteers in the nursery compared to the hundreds of people employed in the factory. Despite all the efforts made, we can still understand where the priority is. 

TWIGA Cement could be an excellent example for many drivers around Tanzania. Everybody needs cement; unfortunately, wood is the primary construction material in Tanzania, and the transition to sustainable tools that avoid deforestation and reduce greenhouse gas emissions is not readily available today. The carbon sequestration provided by those hectares of nursery permits enables TWIGA to achieve its goal of developing the Dar es Salaam district while simultaneously reducing its negative impact. 

Investing in R&D (Research and Development) for green energy could be the next step for TWIGA Cement to achieve its goal of being a zero-carbon emission company. 

In the end, compared to developed countries such as those in Europe or the United States, African countries, especially Tanzania, bear only a small responsibility for the global warming issue. Tanzanian people, because of low incomes, primarily consume daily necessities. Most people don’t travel out of their countries because plane tickets are too expensive, and their water consumption is significantly lower compared to Germany or France. When you drive through Tanzania, you don’t see any herds with thousands of animals; in other words, there is no intensive farming, and all their agriculture is natural, i.e., without pesticides. Still, climate change is expected to affect Tanzania and other African countries the most in the coming decades. 

As I mentioned, Tanzania is a minor contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, fossil industries are the primary sources of greenhouse gases. Take TWIGA Cement, for example, and its investment in research and development for clean energy. Tanzania could serve as a model of sustainable development for all African countries. 

CONCLUSION

Through my internship at the Art in Tanzania institution, I had the opportunity to participate in numerous debate classes, which aimed to teach English while debating on sensitive subjects such as religion, waste management, and COVID-19. I was very surprised by the open-mindedness and the stance that Tanzanians can take on such subjects, unlike in our European countries, where discussions often confront two ideals rather than promoting understanding and acceptance of differences. Therefore, after more than two months of living together and sharing their traditions, I am convinced that the Tanzanian community has a key role in the climate issue. The government and various institutions seeking to work towards a more responsible and sustainable economy can rely on the collective strength and openness to change of the people. Tanzania can become a pioneer in developing a green and accountable economy. To do so, its community needs to be informed and heard. The government and institutions need to invest heavily in intelligent campaigns to raise awareness of the environmental benefits and the importance of caring for the environment. As seen in the example of the workshops held at the Bagamoyo Knowledge Centre, participants are more than interested in green energy, as it can improve their daily lives, economy, and biodiversity. The Tanzanian community is willing to listen and act for the good of their country if it will improve their life. The next generations have a significant role in this awareness, and it is through the youth that these innovations will be born. Of course, nothing worth doing is easy, and such a transition will not happen overnight.