By Gabriel Andre – Art in Tanzania internship

Environmental Advocacy Program

Climate Change

TANZANIA, A DEVELOPING COUNTRY AMID AN ECOLOGICAL SHIFT  

Economic and demographic development

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General Introduction 

Tanzania is lauded as one of Africa’s most peaceful and stable countries. Since its independence, the country has moved to a multi-party democracy that allows a separation of powers. Tanzania, being the mainland, has an Island called Zanzibar.  Tanzanian’s economic development largely depends on agriculture. Since the 1990s, the country has had strong economic growth and was predicted to be one of the fastest economic growth in the world. Nevertheless, it is one of the poorest economies in Africa in terms of per capita income, and the overall growth rate is due to the growth of the tourism sectors (safaris, Zanzibar recreational facilities) and gold mining. Most people I have met here have been a tour guide for at least one or two years.  For example, Hadija started as a day trip tour guide for Art in Tanzania and has now become a team leader in social sector projects. Tourism is the second pillar of the Tanzanian economy, employing many jobless people. The development of tourism has led to the improvement of the infrastructures of regions with tourist accommodations. Tanzania expects about 750,000 tourists to arrive in the country every year,

The primary export commodities include gold, tobacco, fish products, coffee, cotton, diamonds, horticulture, and sisal. Tanzania’s main trading partners are China, Switzerland, South Africa, Kenya, and India. 

Agave sisalana, or Sisal, is a plant native to southern Mexico. It’s a resistant fibre for ropes, fabrics, or carpets.

Religions  

Tanzania is mainly composed of two religions: Christianity and Islam.

Both religions live in perfect harmony thanks to Tanzania’s first president, Julius Nyerere. Each religion is respectful to the other beliefs. The island of Zanzibar is mainly composed of Muslims, representing 96% of its population. 

Demographic development 

On October 24th, 2020, Tanzania’s population was estimated at 59 million, whereas on July 1st, 2015, it was at 52 million. Due to high birth rates in the country, on March 18th, 2021, the total population approached t0 61,006,138, representing 0.77 % of the world population. In 6 years, Tanzania’s population has seen an increase of 8 million people whereas during the same period, the French population has an increase of less than 1 million. Around 37% of the Tanzania’s population is urban. 

Also, 44% of the population comprises people under the age of 15, 52 % between 15 and 64 and 3.1 % is above 64 years old. Tanzania is built through various cultures and traditions, and the country is divided into 120 ethnicities, with Sukuma being the largest one, representing 16% of the total population.  Despite aid and grants from the IMF, Tanzania still depends on foreign countries due to its serious debt. It has an external debt of about USD 7.9 billion; debt servicing constitutes about 40% of government expenditures. To repay this debt, the country is forced to qualify for loans from other countries. Adelaide Mkwawa, ICT and Communications Officer at Climate Action Network Tanzania are preoccupied with Tanzanian debt: “A lot of aid is coming from other countries such as Switzerland, USA, China, but it’s more to have a position in the country than to help. Tanzanians are dependent on every domain on foreign aids”.  

One of the main concerns in Tanzania is the eradication of poverty. According to the World Bank data, in 2017, 49.4 % of Tanzania’s population lived under 1.90$ per day (the price per day in 2011), almost half of the population. The absence of resources to conduct surveys engenders difficulties for the World Bank to grasp data updates. This same year, the World Bank announced that 76.8 % of Tanzanians were under the 3.20 $ a day poverty headcount ratio (PPP in 2011) and 91.80 % under the 5.50 $ one’s. In comparison, France’s 5.50$ poverty headcount ratio in 2017 was under 0.1%. 

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The development of trade in Tanzania has played a key role in eradicating poverty in the country since the private sector controls the growth of the national economy. Major imports include capital goods, intermediate goods, and consumer goods with trading partners such as the USA, China, Norway, UK, Finland, Kenya and Zambia. Trade has attracted foreign investors due to its proof of the availability of political stability and natural gas discoveries. On the other hand, Tanzania is becoming more dependent on those countries’ financial investments.  

Environmental politics in Tanzania

Non-banking financial Institutions and non-governmental organizations play a key role in the deployment of free education to citizens, especially women in rural areas, to make them aware of what is happening in the economy and the environmental issues. The Tanzanian government has established environmental sections in all its ministers, and a key result of this is the integration of environmental problems into the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) budgeting. This money should help NGOs working for the climate to play a significant role. Nevertheless, Adelaide Mkwawa never saw those government funds when she was at the United National Appeal Tribunal (UNAT) or the Climate Action Network (CAN) where she works. The same conclusion for Hadija, Team leader at Art in Tanzania, a non-governmental organization that promotes volunteer and intern projects in climate change, education, social work, medical and health practices, social media, arts and music, sports, HIV/AIDS awareness. “From my experience, I’ve never heard of any funds from the government for Art in Tanzania that can help with environmental projects. Maybe the government planned to fund NGOs, but the fund hasn’t reached Art in Tanzania yet. I hope that if there are some funds for NGOs, then Art in Tanzania will be among those NGOs to be considered”, Hadija said. 

The biggest problem regarding environmental policies is the lack of information and communication. The government doesn’t provide any information about the strategies or any concrete actions that have been put in place. Most of my research has guided me to environmental information provided by other countries or institutions (U.S Agency for International Development, United Nations Environment Program, Netherlands government, etc.) or from the last government environment data update in 2013. For more recent information, it’s necessary to talk directly with government employees, but as you can imagine, it’s even more complex than seeing a cheetah on a safari.  According to Adelaide Mkwawa, even the Parliamentarian Assembly for Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (Parliaments Assembly) has given information and strategies on how to implement the SDG in the government budget. That’s where the UNAT’s help comes to a limit.  After this, the government takes responsibility for the project. “That’s why there is a lack of information and monitoring. Really hard to find the progress because the government hides a lot of info,” said Adelaide. 

 

Corruption

The African Union estimates that corruption around Africa represents $50 billion in yearly losses. Lots of changes have been made in all African countries to eradicate corruption. Legislation has been drafted, and anti-corruption authorities have been formed. However, on the ground, approximately everywhere, especially in Tanzania, nothing seems to have changed. Corruption is a noneconomic factor which creates a gap among the Tanzanian people. Since 1968, with the creation of the Anti-corruption commissions in Africa (Bertelsmann Foundation 2014), Tanzania has tried to combat corruption. Most of Tanzania’s presidents ‘ mandates focused on the fight against corruption. In 1995, President Benjamin Mkapa declared “war” on corruption and organized the Presidential Commission against Corruption to assess the state for corruption and highlight some recommendations. This led to adopting the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan (NASCAP) in 1999 and to implementing a revised NASCAP by the new president, Jakaya Kikwete, in 2005. At the end of 2014, a new report was made with a new anti-corruption strategy. All that information proves that, at the end of 2015, corruption had risen compared to 2005 and was less transparent than ever. Despite the government’s efforts, Tanzania suffers badly from rampant corruption. Good governance is essential for reducing poverty and controlling corruption in the country. Tanzania faces grand and petty corruption due to weak government laws in different agencies. Most foreign investors have stated that corruption in areas like taxation, customs service, and procurement creates a difficult environment for them to do business in the country due to the high demand for bribery. 

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The diagram above shows us the corruption rate level from low (=1) to high (=6). Tanzania is one of the countries with the highest rate of corruption. The USA and France are not even listed in the World Bank dataset because their respectful rate is under 1. Cape Verde and Bhutan are the two countries that faced the highest corruption rate, 4.5. 

New president Magafuli, like his predecessors, has made the fight against corruption a point of honour of his mandates.  Nicknamed “the Bulldozer” because of their leadership style, he earned himself credibility for his fight against corruption. He rebuilt lost trust with foreigners donors and with his population by firing public officials that were incompetent and corrupt. In November and December 2016, six senior officials in the Tanzania Revenue Authority were fired and pushed away. 

Unfortunately, President Magafuli was fighting alone in this battle against top officials, influential leaders, and powerful wealthy people.  Despite the efforts and the hope Magafuli was bringing to the Tanzanian people, corruption is still one of the main problems in Tanzania. As a personal example, I was able to see and experience this drama of corruption through my trip by car between the city of Arusha and the city of Moshi. In only 3 hours, we were stopped no less than 9 times without any reason, and we had to pay between 1000 and 4000 schillings each time. This represents between 50 cents and 2 euros. Sometimes the bill is more expensive, sometimes they let you pass, it’s random. Corruption is a disaster, with 91.8 % of the population living on less than 5.5 USD per day and 48.9% under 1.9 USD. 

Unfortunately, President Magafuli passed away on this Wednesday, 17 March 2021, at 61 years old. For instance, Vice President Samia Suhulu Hassan was sworn in as president and became the first female president of an East African country. Because of Magafuli’s 21 days of mourning, President Hassan has not yet exposed her strategy to avoid Tanzania’s corruption. 

Sectors Promoting Economic Development of Tanzania

Agriculture

As the main economic activity of Tanzania, agriculture contributes to 26% of the GDP and employs about 75% of the labour force. Agriculture, the key sector of the economy, assists in poverty reduction, especially in rural areas where most people cannot afford food or have any food security. Not only does agriculture provide employment opportunities, but it also provides 95% of the food to the people. During the 1990s, agriculture was mainly controlled by the government, but after the liberalization of the economy, many people engaged freely in this activity. Some areas receive enough rainfall throughout the year, making it easy for cultivation, while others are prone to tsetse flies, which badly affect the production of crops. 

The lack of access to the banking sector makes it difficult for farmers to obtain loans to carry out their production since only 9% have access to financial services, and only 4% can get loans. Smallholder farmers have low education and knowledge, resulting in poor-quality crops. This causes the crops to fetch low prices in the markets. Tanzania depends on the export of cash crops, which increases revenue. Since the 20th century, the main exported commodity has been coffee, and each year, 30 to 40,000 metric tons are produced, of which 30% is Robusta and 70% is Arabica. However, none of this coffee is consumed by Tanzanian people, as they prefer cheaper, low-quality coffee.  About $115 million is generated from coffee exportations. Coffee consumption accounts for 7% of its total production in the national output (Gupta & Bose, 2019).

According to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), only 24% out of the 44 million hectares of land have been used to cultivate crops. Moreover, the existence of water resources, favourable climatic conditions and fertile lands have led to a decrease in poverty conditions.

Challenges facing the agriculture sector include:

• High rainfall dependency and low irrigation process
• Lack of agricultural knowledge and low level of technology, such as the use of ploughs
• Lack of financial access to farm inputs, such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides
• Low quality of agricultural production resulting in crops fetching low market prices
• Lack of storage facilities and poor infrastructure in the rural areas make it challenging to transport commodities to be processed and sold.

To face these challenges, the government created the Tanzania Agriculture Development Bank.  This bank was established in 2015 to ensure the implementation of agricultural policies and strategies guiding the sector’s performance in general. Agriculture is also the first sector badly affected by climate change. Without help and innovations in the next 20 years, Tanzania will probably face a decrease of 80% of its production, which will plunge the country into deep poverty. 

Mining industry 

Mining is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the Tanzanian economy. In 2013, it contributed to about 3.3% of Tanzania’s GDP, mainly changing its economic growth. The country has various mineral resources such as gold, diamonds, gemstones, nickel, coal, tanzanite, and uranium. Natural gas exploration of about 55 trillion cubic feet has been discovered, helping to supply electricity in the country. UK, India, China, USA, South Africa, Kenya, Netherlands, Oman, Canada, and Germany are the leading investors in the Tanzanian mining sector. Like in many countries, the mining sector faces multiple challenges to climate change, such as health security and illegal practices. Here are some examples of the impacts of the Mining Sector in Tanzania: 

• Silica dust affecting the miners as well as tuberculosis disease
• The existence of illegal mining in the country creates a risk to the workers
• The previous Minister of Mining and Energy resources was found guilty after conducting fraud deals and supplying gold to some firms
• Child labour employed in mines

There was a serious case on the 17th of April 2015, where 19 people were killed after the collapse of an illegal mine near the Bulyanhulu Gold mine in the Kahama district. Many children were rescued from the same collapse. Most developed countries involved in the Tanzanian mining sector already know these problems. Still, the economic interest is too high to be involved in reducing those political challenges. 

Þ Financial sector 

Rural areas in Tanzania do not have access to the banking sector because people do not own valuable assets which would support loan extensions. There is also a lack of education on how banks operate. Most of the rural population have a day-to-day life, only using cash and have no use of credit cards. Even people with a reasonable income mainly use cash. Indeed, if you have a flow, even low, of money entering your bank account, institutions know that you are running a business and lots of fees appear. That’s why most people use cash in their daily lives, and apart from tourist facilities, credit cards are not accepted. 

Þ Transport sector 

Transport is critical in any economy to facilitate smooth trade. Tanzanian roads are maintained under the management of TANROADS, “Tanzanian Roads”, which has improved the national roads. Road safety remains a significant problem due to poor maintenance of vehicles, overloading, flooding, and poor driving. Tanzania plans to import about 138 Chinese modern buses into Dar es Salaam. This is due to the government’s support through improving marine transport by modernizing ports and increasing spending on infrastructure. The port currently collects over TZS 40 billion monthly, almost 18 million euros.