GOAL 7: ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

(National Target Nine: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources
National Target Ten: Halve by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation (%))

NATIONAL TARGET NINE: INTEGRATE THE PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO COUNTRY POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES AND REVERSE THE LOSS OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES

Status and Trends

According to Environment Statistics 2005, 46 per cent of the total land area of Tanzania is covered by forest and woodland. The rate of deforestation is estimated at 500,000 ha per annum.
A total of 17,449 square kilometres has been designated as protected areas. National parks include fish spawning areas and inshore fish species of coastal mangroves, gazetted as forest reserves. The number of protected forests and natural reserves has increased considerably. There are twelve National Parks and two proposed National Parks, thirty four Game Reserves, one Conservation Area, one Biosphere Reserve space, three World Heritage sites and forty three Game Controlled Areas as well as 47,565 square kilometres of Wetlands.

Supportive Environment

Tanzania has an Environmental Management Act and has in place Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations and guidelines. The country is actively implementing regional environmental programmes such as Lake Tanganyika Biodiversity Programme and Lake Victoria Environmental Management Programme.
In recent years, coastal and marine protected areas and conservation efforts have increased significantly to protect diminishing fish species. Environmental concerns have also been mainstreamed in the MKUKUTA, and sectoral policies have been reviewed to incorporate management of biodiversity issues. Conservation activities managed by communities include Wildlife Management Areas and Community Forest Protected Areas.
During 2005/6 the Government prepared a “Strategy for Urgent Actions on Land Degradation and Water Catchments”. The Strategy addresses the problems of environmental degradation caused by agriculture and livestock keeping in water catchments areas. The strategy also covers issues of environmental degradation caused by excessive tree cutting for firewood, charcoal and other uses.

Major Challenges

Environmental challenges in Tanzania have increased in dimensions to include: unsound disposal
of plastic materials; increased deforestation which has led to deterioration of ecological system with resulting negative impact on soil fertility, water flow and biodiversity and Unsustainable mining activities, especially by small scale miners, have compounded the problem. Moreover the general level of poverty and low level of education especially in rural areas has led to unsustainable harvesting of environmental resources; and there is lack of an efficient property rights structure. In spite of all these enforcement of existing conservation regulatory instruments is weak, and the state of baseline information or data is also weak.

Quick Impact Interventions

• Evacuation of people who have encroached upon plains, water basins and water sources;
• Controlling agricultural activities within water catchments areas and removal of people who have settled in and/or who carry out these activities;
• National Education and Public Awareness Programme for the protection of the environment and sustainable utilization of national resources;
• Identification of unsuitable tree species and prohibiting the planting of such species in, near or around water sources;
• Encouraging big users of trees, firewood and charcoal, such as institutions, tobacco and tea farmers and others to establish forest farms of their own;
• Controlling the outbreak of wild of forest fires, felling of trees for firewood and charcoal, and putting in place concrete implementation and monitoring measures regarding type of trees, age of trees and area for harvesting trees for that purpose; and requiring users to plant and maintain trees as well as control and regulate irrigation activities;
• Promoting use of, and conducting research on, alternative energy sources and appropriate technologies that are aimed at reduction of firewood and charcoal demands;
• Implementing Environmental Conservation Programmes and Participatory land use plans in each district;
• Banning all illegal mining activities especially around the water sources and forest reserves;
• Banning the use of plastic bags and sensitizing use of alternative materials;
• Developing capacity for implementing environmental management issues; and
• Producing a state of the environment report.

NATIONAL TARGET TEN:HALVE BY 2015, THE PROPORTION OF PEOPLE WITHOUT SUSTAINABLE ACCESS TO SAFE DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION (%)

Status and Trends

Tanzania is on track to achieving the target of access to safe drinking water. By 2005, 53 per cent of rural households and 73 per cent of urban households in the Mainland had access to improved water sources. Long distances to sources of drinking water in rural areas impose heavy workload on women and children. 47 per cent of rural households in Zanzibar use unprotected sources of drinking water.
A high proportion of households (87 per cent) use pit latrines while 9 per cent have no toilet facility at all. The majority with no facilities are in rural areas (11 per cent).

Supportive Environment

Availability of portable water is a priority of the two governments and communities at large. Water policies are in place to guide development, distribution and equitable access. Community committees take charge of water infrastructure maintenance and distribution and work closely with the governments to ensure that there is equity and fairness in the access and use as well as affordability. Sustainability is in-built from design of water projects through community participation, ownership and cost-sharing.

There are specific rural and urban programmes in the provision of water and maintenance of infrastructure. In urban areas they are sub contracted to water authorities while in rural areas such programmes are more in the hands of community committees. Local government authorities supervise and plan for water developments in their localities. The allocation of government resources to the water sector has been increased. As a result, there has been an increase in the rehabilitation of water infrastructure in both rural and urban areas. The water sector also receives great support from DPs in terms of projects, direct financing, technical assistance and, in urban areas large projects and direct finance.

Major Challenges and Priorities

The challenge in water provision is on how to improve equitable access especially in rural areas. The country is vast and the majority of the population live in the rural areas. Urban schemes are expensive since they need capital intensive investments. How to adopt a multi-sector approach such as the health sector one is another challenge. Most diseases in the health sector, for example, can be contained by improving the water sector.

Quick Interventions

• Large scale water schemes especially to supply water to townships;
• Increasing community participation in establishing water committees at village and street levels for maintenance and expansion of water schemes;
• Constructing more dams and wells for livestock keepers and farmers;
• Raising water tariff for water users to tap additional resources for maintenance and development of new water sources;
• Increasing the number of water stabilization ponds for quality and portability,
• Increasing water and sanitation projects in rural areas; and
• Increasing water and sanitation projects in urban areas.
  

Reference:
Ministry of Planning, Economy & Empowerment (MPEE). Millennium Development Goals, Progress Report. December 2006. Available at http://www.povertymonitoring.go.tz