Kigoma — Joint efforts between the government, environmental stakeholders and local community to are needed to protect wetland area of Lake Tanganyika Basin in Kigoma Region, which are increasingly being destroyed.

Director of the TUUNGANE Programme sponsored by the Nature Conservancy and Path Finder, Lukindo Hizza said this during the launch of a plan to plant two million trees along the Malagarasi River, while it was explained that the environment around the river has continued to be rapidly destroyed.

Hizza mentioned the reasons that contribute to the destruction as human activities including agriculture, breeding and timber cutting.

"Human activities have affected a large area and the Malagarasi River water level is dropping rapidly," he said.

He said that currently, this two-year programme is focused on planting two million trees to restore fertility and natural vegetation to enable those areas to be used following professional instructions to prevent damage

Inaugurating the tree planting programme, Buhigwe District Commissioner, Michael Masala Ngayarina said that the government will closely monitor environmental laws and procedures and has warned all people who destroy the environment, including the wrong plan to burn forests based on local beliefs.

Ngayarina said that the basin of Lake Tanganyika, including the Malagarasi river, is declining due to several environmental degradations, urging every stakeholder, including the local community to see the importance of conservation and care of the environment as part of their daily lives.