SEVEN districts are set to benefit from a five year project (2021- 2025) for Sustainable Landscape Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation in Tanzania.
The five year programme is funded by Global Environmental through United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) at a cost of 11.2 million US dollars.
The beneficiary districts are from districts in Great Ruaha and Lake Rukwa Basins.
Vice President’ s Office (VPO) Director (Environment) Dr Dramas Mapunda said the execution of the project dubbed ” Supporting implementation of Integrated Ecosystem Management Approach started officially in January 2022.
Dr Mapunda made the revelation during an interview with Daily News held here in municipality on the sideline of a two day workshop attended by councils who are members of environment council committees from the three wards where the project is being executed which are Sumbawanga in Rukwa and Mpimbwe and Tanganyika District in Katavi region
“The project which is being implemented in seven districts focuses on degraded and deforested landscapes of the Great Ruaha, and, Lake Rukwa,” he said.
He further said that, through the project a total of 110,000 ha in Lake Rukwa and Great Ruaha are expected to be brought under sustainable restoration come 2025 as well as planting trees on 5,000 ha. Initially the project aims to restore 7,745 ha.
“During the project implementation the lives of more than 5,000 families with 300,000 members from two basins of Great Ruaha and Lake Rukwa will be improved… the project will also reduce 4.7 percent of carbon” he noted.
The seven districts under the project implementation from Great Ruahaand Lake Rukwa basins are Sumbawanga in Rukwa Region along the Lake Rukwa Rift Valley Basin ,Mpimbwe and Tanganyika in Katavi Region.
Others are Mbeya,Wanging’ombe,Iringa and Mbalali districts in Great Ruaha.
Tanzania hosts one of the highest levels of forest cover in eastern and southern Africa.
Among African nations, Tanzania is home to more than one-third of the continent’s plant species and is the fourth richest country in terms of fauna, with a fifth of all large mammal species.
All these make the nation and the health of its landscapes essential for efforts to conserve and protect global biodiversity.
And this biodiversity is a key pillar to support the livelihoods of millions of Tanzanians – with wildlife-driven tourism contributing around 2 billion US dollars annually to the national economy and providing over 12 percent of employment.
Healthy landscapes are also vital to the country’s agricultural industry, which generates a quarter of gross domestic product and provides employment for 80 percent of all Tanzanians.
However, land degradation resulting from a number of challenges including overgrazing, over-exploitation and deforestation and poor agricultural practices, and driven by underlying factors including rapid population growth, insecure land tenure and poverty, are threatening this foundation.
More than half of the nation’s total land area is affected by land degradation, and 16 percent is highly degraded.
This land degradation is estimated to be costing Tanzania over 10.2 billion US dollars per year, with declines in agricultural productivity, food insecurity, water pollution, desertification, increased migration and land conflicts, and loss of biodiversity.
