Tanzania: VP Lures Investors in Environment-Friendly Technology

VICE-PRESIDENT Dr Philip Mpango has encouraged investors to come and invest in Tanzania's environment-friendly technology that transforms wastes into gas energy and fertilisers.

Dr Mpango also called upon researchers from developing countries to collaborate with local companies and researchers from Tanzania in further developing simple and environment-friendly technologies by using solar and wind energies found in the country.

The VP made the call yesterday at the Stockholm+50' conference, an international meeting convened by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which is taking place for two days in Stockholm, Sweden.

"This is to ensure the world becomes a much safer place for all living creatures, there is a need to effectively execute various international protocols in dealing with environmental degradation, which occurs in various places globally like the Rio de Jeneiro, Paris, Kyoto and Glasgow," said Dr Mpango.

He cited political will and concerted efforts as among crucial factors needed in dealing with environmental challenges, which are as a result of human activities.

Dr Mpango disclosed that Tanzania has taken various initiatives to tackle environmental degradation including protecting its natural forests as well as embarking on national tree planting campaigns.

The country has also preserved 307,800 square kilometers, which is equivalent to 32.5 per cent of the entire area earmarked for national parks and forests.

According to him, despite several efforts taken by the country in the fight against environmental degradation, the matter still required more attention from all nations, stressing that Tanzania cannot tackle the global crisis alone.

Besides, leaders from different nations worldwide and representatives from international communities have pledged and suggested the best practices in dealing with environmental degradation globally.

The meeting is aimed at enhancing implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially on the environment, and discussing economic sustainability in fighting Covid-19.

Stockholm+50 is a collaborative and multi-stakeholder in nature, open to all participants, who are invited to share experiences and initiatives to protect the planet and contribute to sustainable and inclusive development, one of them being a sustainable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The meeting comprises an opening segment, four plenary meetings, three leadership dialogues, and a closing segment.

The meeting is attended by heads of state and governments from various nations as well as environmental stakeholders.

It commemorates the 50 years since the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment that made the environment a pressing global issue for the first time.

Some 122 countries attended, and participants adopted a series of principles on the environment, including the Stockholm Declaration and Action Plan for the Human Environment. The United Nations Environment Programme was created as a result of the conference.

Mr Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the 1972 event, said the lasting message from the event was a "realisation that man has come to one of those seminal points in his history where his own activities are the principal determinants of his own future."

Now, 50 years after that Stockholm meeting, the world faces a triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and waste, nature and biodiversity loss, as well as other planetary ills that are affecting current and future prosperity and wellbeing.

An unhealthy planet threatens human health, prosperity, equality and peace, as the world has seen only too clearly in Covid-19. It also threatens the achievement of the SDGs.

UN Secretary General António Guterres has described the triple planetary crisis as "our number one existential threat" that needs "an urgent, all-out effort to turn things around.

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