THE Norwegian government has disbursed 3 million US dollars to Tanzania for capacity building in institutions involved in environmental conservation to reduce emissions caused by deforestation.
The capacity building initiative will be implemented through the REDD+ project in efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation as well as to foster conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
The grants were provided through the Norwegian Development Agency (NORAD), which will be under International Union for Conservation for Nature (IUCN) supervision and will be operating within three years.
The IUCN Coordinator for Eastern and Southern Africa, Mr Charles Uluchina said in Morogoro recently that the REDD+ project will be implemented by the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridorof Tanzania (SAGCOT) in collaboration with IUCN in the Ifakara area, Kilombero district of Morogoro region and Ihemi located in Iringa region.
Mr Uluchina said recently that if the second phase of the project is properly implemented, donors could add another five years.
He said they will work closely together to ensure that the support provided works as intended so that donors can continue to fund Tanzania’s projects.
The Senior Adviser, Section for Food at NORAD’s Department for Climate and Environment, Ms Ingvild Langhus, said the REDD+ project looks at how farmers’ land can be sustainable so that the effects of environmental degradation can be reduced.
“We are dealing with many countries in Africa but if this three-year project is successful we will be able to extend another five years of implementation,” said Ms Langhus.
Launching the REDD+ project, the Permanent Secretary in the Vice President’s Office, Ms Mary Maganga said people can restore naturalness by planting trees in water sources to help damaged areas become covered.
She said through the project the office of the Vice President will ensure that forests are not destroyed and will put in place a sustainable strategy to plant trees and conserve water sources that will benefit Tanzanians at all levels.
“In Tanzania, we are blessed with a lot of land, if you and I plant trees and prevent deforestation as well as conserve natural vegetation we will be able to make a big difference in our country,” said Maganga.
Ms Maganga said Tanzanians’ habit of conserving natural vegetation could put the country at an advantage from climate change that is currently plaguing the world.
On his part the Vice President’s Office Director of Environment, Dr Andrew Komba said the second phase of the REDD+ project is to build the institutional capacity that is responsible for implementing the project from the community.
This will involve the cross-cutting ministries, including the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG), and ministries responsible for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Lands, Housing and Human Settlements and Natural Resources and Tourism.
Dr Komba said under the project the issues to be addressed include laws, regulations and policies so that every institution and stakeholder could be able to implement interventions related to forest rehabilitation issues.
Dr Komba said the current situation of environmental and forest degradation is an average of 469,000 hectares cut down annually in the country’s forests for various uses related to energy exploration for cooking, construction and other uses.