DUE to environment changes which sweep across the world and resulting in several climatic conditions which affect living creatures and earth surfaces, it forces man to look for solutions so that the community can live safely.
The strong consideration done by the government to mitigate environmental challenges is considered as the best step to ensure that we protect our globe against continued impact posed by environmental changes.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan's tour in Glasgow, Scotland in the UK last year for the 26th United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) and her address to the Summit on November 2, is a sign of commitment to address the situation in a proper approach with international community.
She told the summit that apart from Tanzania being home to 48m hectares of forest reserves, it has witnessed unusual increase of sea level and effects of global temperature rise on Mt Kilimanjaro, for example, losing its natural appearance due to snow melting at the summit.
"In Tanzania, we have not been left aside on what happens from these effects. We are witnessing rising sea levels that claim coastal land areas, and our national pride, Mt Kilimanjaro has seen its snow melting, while we have unpredictable floods and droughts," said President Samia.
She said in the Zanzibar and Pemba islands, there are higher temperatures than is usually the case, destroying parts of the ecological system vital for the tourism sector.
"For poorer countries like Tanzania, it means 30 percent of its GDP earned from agriculture, fishing and forests is not sustainable. More efforts are needed to address climate change, even though the pace in that sphere is small, in relation to the Paris accords meant to attain the 1.5degree Celsius temperature rise target," the president declared.
Tanzania is taking various steps to address climate change effects as some of them threaten national expectations in the development agenda, like the need to establish greenhouse facilities by 2030. President Samia said "We are increasing the pace in planting 276 million trees," she declared, underlining that if developing countries can make these efforts, then developed countries should do the same.
She remarked however that Tanzania's agenda at the meeting was to revisit promises made by developed nations in Paris in 2015 to fund Africa with $100 billion to tackle adverse effects of climate change.
The president has continuously stressed that global challenges require Tanzania to walk with the rest of the world in tackling climate change.
Ambassador Ms Liberata Mulamula, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, was recently quoted saying that Tanzania would use the Cop 26 platform to highlight how Tanzania is tackling climate change.
She said more severe droughts, plagues, floods, earthquakes, thunderstorms, submerging of land masses and famine are some of the anticipated impacts of climate change that the country faces which makes our generation live in absence of hope since we don't know what can happen tomorrow in our area.
"Challenges we faced in the year 2019/2020 in Africa we include locust invasion, cyclones hitting Mozambique, drought ravaged South Africa, while in 2019 the world was faced with the threat of Covid-19, which claimed thousands of lives," she said.
The backdrop of large infrastructure gaps and social inequality, tackling the climate crisis on the continent is a complex challenge in Africa, therefore the presence of sustainable finance can play an important role in driving that much-needed change.
Many countries in Africa are fossil-fuel dependent, relying on fossil-fuel industries to provide jobs, tax income or stable electricity.
Decisions to limit emissions can have significant unintended consequences on the lives and livelihoods of people. Solving social aspects, for ensuring access to decent work, housing, and basic services, while transitioning from fossilfuel dependency to renewable energies are needed.
The transition in Africa will be vastly different from how it's happening in developed markets. This is due to a large part of Africa's economic dependency on certain minerals, the cost of transitioning and the availability of alternate energy sources are challenges to the area.
Sustainable finance solutions need to be applied, taking both challenges and opportunities into consideration. Banks need to partner with clients on their transition journeys to identify new opportunities or mitigate risk arising from environmental changes.
The investment needed to drive inclusive growth, mitigate climate change and adapt to the changing weather patterns in Africa. In delivering sustainable finance, banks can prepare clients for the transition and positively impact the societies in which they operate.
At the end of the day, climate change affects everyone. It's a threat multiplier that exacerbates the challenges the continent already faces, for individuals, businesses and states, but the climate crisis can also provide an opportunity for banks to step up and support the just transition through sustainable financing.
Globally, governments, academics, civil society organizations, and businesses are committed to playing their role in realizing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), of which roadmaps and action plans are being formulated. Seminars are being held; lectures are being staged and SDG content added to courses.
Researchers are researching, planners are planning, and teachers are teaching, all mindful and responsive to the science and knowledge that insists on the sustainability agenda.
The world however needs to remain true to the intended transformative nature of this agenda. The value of the SDGs and their targets lie in their actual achievement and success, and this will only be attained with action. Africa's youth dividend continues to grow at an accelerated pace, surpassing Europe and the United States.
According to World Economic Forum, the African continent is growing so quickly that by 2050, two in every five children in the world will be born here. African stateswoman Ms Graça Machel expressed concern that Africa could become the continent of a billion 'angry, underfed, under-educated and under-employed young people by 2050, unless African governments act to invest in their children'.
"Even though our youth have the potential to transform Africa, if neglected, they could exacerbate poverty and inequality while threatening peace, security and prosperity," said Ms Machel, who also chairs the international board of trustees of the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF).
While our young and growing population faces some of the most complex economic, political, and social challenges in the world, vast resources and largely untapped markets could provide the foundations for a continent-wide renewal.
The SDGs established that young people are a driving force for the required development - but only if they are provided with the skills and opportunities needed to reach their potential, support development and contribute to peace and security. As we hold hands to unlock this dividend, we should be inspired and guided by the words of Nelson Mandela: "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Environment Minister of Egypt, Ms Yasmine Fouad said recently that Egypt proposed to host the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP 27, in 2022 amid great support by African countries.
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The decision on Egypt's hosting of the COP 27 was adopted at the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC)'s meeting in April this year in the presence of Egypt's President, Mr Abdel Eli Sisi.
During the conference, Egypt will reveal to the participants national projects carried out in the country, taking into account the environmental dimensions that will greatly contribute to Egypt's initiative to convert fuel-powered cars to natural gas vehicles (NGVs).
Ms Foud said to activate President Sisi's initiative there is need to combine the three Rio environment agreements that were launched during the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 14), She said among the issues discussed at the meeting included means of mobilizing efforts to merge the three Rio conventions; the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The summit also aims at maximizing the co-benefits of a food systems approach across the entire 2030 Agenda and meeting the challenges of climate change.
It also aims to provide a platform for ambitious new actions, innovative solutions, and plans to transform food systems and leverage these shifts to deliver progress across all of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These approaches taken by environmental stakeholders are giving hope that the world cooperation will yield much awaited turn in environmental issues and enable our globe to be safe.
