THE Vice- President, Dr Philip Mpango has called on Tanzanians to protect environment by encouraging everyone to stop throwing garbage everywhere, especially on roads.
Dr Mpango made the plea on Sunday after he participated in a church service at St Peter Parish at Swaswa in Dodoma.
He said that the current unpredictable rains are caused by environmental degradation that has already taken place in the country, adding that people should see the importance of protecting the beautiful environment that the country has.
Equally, the VP urged the believers and Tanzanians in general to see the importance of planting trees in their homes, including the ones for fruits and shade to cope with the current effects of environmental degradation.
Early in March this year, Dr Mpango made an appeal to nations to ensure climate change adaptation and mitigation issues are adequately mainstreamed in their development plans, especially those targeting sectors most vulnerable to the problem, such as agriculture, water and energy.
However, he called for regional and global partnerships as key pillars in finding solutions to the global challenge during the onset of the High-level Thematic Round Table Two: Leveraging the power of science, technology and innovation for the sustainable development of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Doha, Qatar.
"Let us collectively invest in appropriate innovative technologies to address climate change and associated challenges towards a better future," said Dr Mpango noting that Tanzania welcomes strong partnerships in key priority areas in dealing with climate change impacts.
Outlining the priority areas, the VP underscored issues including solar and wind energy, waste management disposal and green technologies.
Like many other LDCs, he revealed that Tanzania is already affected by climate change and variabilities with extreme occurrences such as droughts and floods, unpredictable rainfall patterns, rising sea level and sinking islands resulting in food insecurity, water and social conflicts, disruption of livelihoods and major economic costs.
"Tanzania is estimated to have recorded economic losses to the tune of 33.7 million US dollars (about 77bn/-) due to adverse effects of climate change over the past ten-years due to floods," he noted.
In mitigating the problem, the VP said the country has developed a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and the National Environmental Master Plan for Strategic Interventions (NEMSI), 2022-2032, which charts out strategic interventions to address environmental challenges based on their spatial variation.
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In line with this, priority actions and specific areas for interventions regarding climate change adaptation and mitigation have been identified.
Such include countrywide tree planting, use of clean cooking energy, building small and medium sized dams to store rainwater for use during the year and construction of seawalls for protection of the coastline from erosion.
"I hereby call upon our development partners for enhanced support to LDCs in climate financing," the VP said.
On the other hand, the VP reminded believers to consider good Tanzanian values in upbringing children and young people as well as calling on the owners of educational institutions to focus on managing good Tanzanian values in their institutions.
