TZ restores 3.3million hactares of forests
MOROGORO: THE Vice-President’s Office has commended environmental stakeholders, including the Tanzania Forest Services Agency (TFS), for restoring 3.3 million hectares of degraded forest and land by December 2024, marking significant progress towards the country’s restoration target.
Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Vice-President’s Office (Union Affairs), Mr Abdalah Mitawi, made the remarks while opening a national workshop in Morogoro aimed at strengthening the capacity of the National Task Force on Forest and Landscape Restoration.
He said Tanzania pledged in 2018 to restore 5.2 million hectares of degraded forests and landscapes by 2030 under the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100).
To assess progress, the government commissioned the National Carbon Monitoring Centre (NCMC) in 2024 to evaluate implementation of the commitment. The assessment found that 3.3 million hectares had been restored by December 2024.
“I urge all environmental stakeholders to sustain these efforts so that by the next assessment in 2030, Tanzania will have surpassed its restoration target,” Mr Mitawi said.
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Despite the progress, he noted that Tanzania continues to face serious environmental degradation, with an estimated 469,000 hectares of forest lost annually.
He attributed the loss to unsustainable human activities, including overgrazing, livestock encroachment on water sources, logging for firewood and charcoal, shifting cultivation and illegal mining.
Mr Mitawi said the government, working with development partners and international organisations, has continued implementing policy and strategic measures to accelerate environmental conservation and forest landscape restoration as part of the country’s sustainable development agenda.
Speaking on behalf of the TFS Commissioner of Conservation, Director of Tree Seed Production, Dr Hamza Katety, commended the Vice-President’s Office for supporting projects funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which have strengthened forest conservation efforts.
Dr Katety said that one of the key challenges they have faced since the launch of the restoration initiative has been the lack of reliable data on restoration activities and the stakeholders involved.
He proposed establishing a national stakeholder platform to improve coordination, information sharing and data collection, saying it would enable the government and partners to monitor restoration progress more effectively.
