Locals key in plans to restore forests: VIDEO

What you need to know:

Ms Scott believes that involvement of people is imperative in reforestation

Dar es Salaam.Tanzanian should take measures to stop the rising rate responsibilityof environmental destruction.

Stakeholders argue that every citizen should get involved in planting trees because the population is rising and has so far caused the destruction of more than 400,000 hectares of trees each year in the country. “Everyone should be part of the conservation efforts because we have been causing deforestation directly or indirectly,” Ms Sarah Scott, Founder and Creative Project Lead at The Kilimanjaro Project says.

More than 85 per cent of the energy used in the country is from the forests, either its firewood or charcoal and 90 per cent of the population depends on it.

Ms Scott, who runs the reforestation project on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and across the country, says there are shocking statistics in Tanzania, and people have been complaining on the effects of climate change without it knowing that in some ways they have a contribution in it.

She said: “It not necessarily that you actually felled the trees, but the increasing demand for products like charcoal has had a negative impact on our forests.”

Another project’s lead ambassador, Mr Joe Legendary, adds that statistically by calculating the daily charcoal demand at every Tanzanian household, it is approximately 12 trees per year.

“They say it is about a $2 million worth of daily business, specifically in the city like Dar es Salaam, the amount of trees which have been felled every year (400, 000 hectares) is actually like 1.5 million footballs fields,” he said.

He said when someone cuts down trees, the effects strike back through mainlly vageries of weather.

Scientifically it has been explained that forest soils are moist, but without protection from sun-blocking tree cover, they quickly dry out. Trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapour to the atmosphere. Without trees, many forest lands would have been deserts.

Deforestation can also negatively impact the environment. The most dramatic impact is the loss of habitat for millions of species.

Eighty per cent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes.

Using data from sources such as the ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, National Forestry Resources Monitoring and Assessment of Tanzania, researchers estimate that deforestation could cost the national economy about Sh5.6 trillion between 2013 and 2033.

The Kilimanjaro project.

The Kilimanjaro Project is a climate change campaign that will profile Mount Kilimanjaro as a clear indicator, which we are experiencing rapidly changing climates and environmental degradation. This project is an awareness campaign -- Call to Action.

“It is an environment and social impact initiative. Basically we want to create an environmental rumble from the slopes of Kilimanjaro and reach across the country and the continent because its a global icon and it can create global voice for climate change,” said Ms Scott, the project lead.

She said through the project they want to join the global dialogue on climate change and also bring people together to create a more sustainable future, which includes reforestation.

According to her, the project started as an awareness campaign but currently is more vibrant and their vision is to plant millions of trees in Kilimanjaro and million others in other regions.

The first operation was carried out in 2018 where they planted 75,000 trees in four districts of Kilimanjaro. “We planted trees in schools and various river reserve lands,” said Ms Scott. The project lead ambassador Mr Joe Legendary said initial goal for last year was to plant 100, 000 trees, but he appreciated the positive progress the project has made in its mission for reforestation in the country.

Ms Scott noted that the time to act against deforestation is now and that she got inspired by the interview she had with the former President Benjamin Mkapa when he said “imagine if every single Tanzanian plants just one tree a year.” The extraordinary possibility that we will have plant more than 50 million trees a year.

She said: “The population of Tanzania is growing at a higher rate and it is going to impact the environment. This means the more trees we plant the more benefits for the future generations.”

“Tuje Pamoja” is one of the crowd funding awareness campaign initiated by the Kilimanjaro project to inspire the commitment of Tanzanians to support the restoration of the country’s green wealth.

Mr Legendary added that the organisation has created a tree tracking App expected to be launched soon, which will connect the organ and their stakeholders, creating transparency of the donor funds and how they have been allocated.

“Through the application people will also have the capacity to follow up on the progress of their trees directly by the means of geo tagging,” he said.

And there will be an opportunity for contributors to get money kickbacks through their mobile,” he said.

Ms Scott added that the whole premise behind the tree tracking app was due to the partnership with Green stand organization and they have developers all across the country through the free open source platform.

“Basically the thinking behind was how do we link, donor funding or any kind of funding directly to the planter because planting is easy but following up the progress of the tree, is another thing,” she said.

“Unless there is an economic incentive for people to look after and nurture trees it is not sustainable, so this app will allow us to do that,” added Scott.

The Kilimanjaro projects involves collaboration with artists, environmentalists, global thinkers, celebrities, Tanzanian communities and change-makers.

She named the The Minister in the office of Vice President-Union and Environment Mr January Makamba, former presidents Benjamin Mkapa and Jakaya Kikwete.

Celebrities such as Vanessa Mdee and Idris Sultan also joined hands with the project with other media partners such as Mwananchi Communication Ltd publisher of Mwananchi, The Citizen and Mwanaspoti newspapers.

Also other prominent partners included the Tanzania Breweries Limited through the Kilimanjaro premium beer donation $100, 000 to the initiative, and the CEO round table.

Alternative energy source.

Sarah Scott noted that if there is a possibility for households to use another source of energy they should so, because to reduce the cutting down of trees the demand for charcoal must drop.

She said, “There are other fuel alternative to charcoal such as gas which is more available in the cities, biogas, and other renewable charcoal”.

We all have to do our part to ensure greener future for our country.