THE Executive Director of the Research on Poverty Alleviation (REPOA), Dr Donald Mmari said on Monday that the environmental degradation has increased by 26 per cent over the past seven years, from 2015 to 2022.
He said the research project conducted by REPOA shows that the area affected by environmental degradation has increased from 312,000 hectares to 469,000 hectares in the period from 2015 to 2022.
Dr Mmari was speaking during a meeting with journalists. The meeting also brought together experts from REPOA and the Tanzania Industrial Research and Development Organisation (TIRDO).
He said the project has yielded significant benefits, including outreach to many producers currently engaged in the production of alternative charcoal across 12 regions.
"If further action is not taken, the situation could worsen in the coming years, as the use of charcoal derived from firewood remains high in both rural and urban areas, posing dangers to the environment and public health," warned Dr Mmari.
The Director General of TIRDO, Prof Mkumbukwa Mtambo, called on both producers and consumers to utilise alternative charcoal to protect the environment and their health.
He urged alternative charcoal producers to utilise TIRDO's laboratories to ensure that the products distributed to communities are clean, safe and comply with legal health standards.
Furthermore, Prof Mtambo elaborated that TIRDO was able to collect 42 samples and found that nearly 50 per cent did not meet the required standards.
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"Based on the results of these samples, TIRDO has begun providing education and preparing guidelines for better production of alternative charcoal," he said.
He added: "although producers are still few there are challenges regarding the quality of alternative charcoal. We welcome them to seek guidance on how to produce better quality alternative charcoal from our experts and to bring their samples for testing in our laboratories," Prof Mtambo insisted.
He said that the TIRDO and REPOA collaborated to educate alternative charcoal producers from 12 regions in the country, involving 58 producers who received training on the best practices for producing environmentally friendly alternative charcoal from plant residues.
The TIRDO Project Coordinator and Environmental Expert Researcher, Ms Kunda Sikazwe noted that a significant challenge is community awareness and the availability of such alternative charcoal in user-friendly environments.
Alternative charcoal is derived from plant residues (biomass), produced from materials such as coconut husks, palm kernel waste, wood shavings and agricultural residues like corn stalks, coffee husks and rice bran.
