By Rauhiya Mussa:
Arbitrary cutting of trees has caused numerous changes in the
country, including drought, soil erosion and floods. The deteriorating number
of trees has occasioned an increase of carbon dioxide emissions.
To mitigate these changes, the revolutionary government of
Zanzibar, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources, Irrigation
and Livestock involving the Department of Forestry, have now turned to planting
mangrove in a bid to reclaim and protect its beaches and nature.
To make the initiative successful, the government has enjoined
the communities living in the target areas as the planters and protectors of
these crucial trees that not only mitigate climate but also protect the ocean
ecosystem.
Mr Khamis Chotaa, the chairman of the environment committee in
the area of the mangrove reserve in Mafufuni village says one of the reasons
they are planting trees is to eliminate disasters as well as changes in the
country's behavior.
He further says the community strives in planting mangrove trees
to reduce the speed of the water that goes to the upper part and also affect
other trees.
“Due to the arbitrary cutting of mangroves and the damage
caused, we decided to stop cutting of mangroves in our villages since it
impacted living creatures such as turtles in the mangroves," he said.
In terms of trees planting in the beaches, the villager says it
helps to keep their hives so that the bees do not go far in search of flowers
with water that give honey and help to harm the criminals of cutting down the
trees to fail to reject the mangrove trees.
"The presence in the seedling compound for the installation
of bees together with the hives to freeze the bees and get honey as well as the
change in the country's behavior leads to the bees being affected and the death
of many bees due to lack of air and also honey is not available in abundance in
the presence of the effects of climate change"
Chotara says the importance of planting mangrove trees is
to reclaim its biodiversity which was lost due to cutting of trees and climate
change. "We first saw that there are effects that emerged after cutting of
mangroves by the community. We suffered losses by seeing water entering in
abundance in the crops and the nutrients that were in the corals lost together
with crops such as rice,"he says/
According to the 2013 tree census, it has shown that
Zanzibar needs 1,340,069 cubic meters per year of forest products including
firewood and charcoal. The report states that our forests only have the
capacity to produce 485,532 cubic meters per year, equal to 36 percent of the
demand.
This means Zanzibar has a deficit of 854,537 cubic meters equal
to 64 percent per year, lost in the period from 1997 to 2013 in Unguja and 704
hectares in Pemba.
Also, 20,649 hectares of mixed forests have been lost due to the
construction of burial grounds on the Unguja side and 14,338 hectares of Pemba
during the period described above.
The level of wood energy consumption for cooking is still
high compared to other energy sources which according to the 2019-2020 economic
assessment report shows that the energy consumption is 52.8 percent followed by
the use of coal which takes 34.1 percent. However, the report has noted that
the use of electricity for cooking has increased somewhat compared to previous
years. The level of electricity consumption for cooking still remains low at
2.6 percent.
Addition that , the use of natural gas for cooking has
increased to 6.6 percent (UK 57 HBS Main report 2019/2020) for a period of one
month, the report has shown that households spend an average of 16,538
shillings for firewood and 20,490 shillings for buying coal.
For the period from October 2022 to March 2023, statistics
show that the center of Jozani in the southern region of Unguja is leading in
the statistics of inspection of wood and coal resources compared to other
centers for the control of these resources, a total of 462.36 cubic meters
equal to loads of 92,470 firewood and 158.4 tons of charcoal equivalent to polo
were allowed to be transported from the southern district of Unguja to other
districts.
With this situation, there is a need to take better
measures that will help community members in the environment.
"Getting the motivation to bring back the mangroves again
for sowing mangrove seeds and planting and burning after seeing the effects
that appeared and after a while the mangroves were enriched for a period of 5,
6 to 10 years with some crops such as braid, corals and water growing more in
agricultural areas and the crops decreased even though the community still
rejects the mangroves." she says Mrs Mkusa Mshenga who is the treasurer of
the environmental group.
This stage of changes in the country's behavior affects
the community to a great extent, as explained by the Forest Department
and forestry officer Mrs Samira Makame Juma from the Zanzibar through the
changes in the country's behavior, it is a change in the climate with a
long-term trend with an increase in temperature in the atmosphere of the world
and cause many harms to the society including changes in rainfall patterns,
droughts, floods as well as rains that do not rain reliably and diseases.
"There is a great importance on planting trees, even
the world's experts say that to deal with the change in the country's behavior
is to plant those trees that have the ability to absorb carbon dioxide
(carbon-oxide) that is spreading in the world, causing extreme heat to enter
the ground if we plant trees to carbon dioxide use mangrove trees in the sea as
well as the trees above to reduce at least this carbon dioxide temperature.
In the great efforts made by the forestry department in
Zanzibar to ensure that they plant trees in the areas of government farms as
well as community forests and encourage different communities by planting
natural trees that can absorb carbon dioxide in a very large amount.
"Asking the community members in the villages to plant
trees when the monsoon rains arrive, they distribute seedlings to the villages
and take the seedlings and plant the trees in open areas as well as areas
affected by fire and other things, and they also ensure that they encourage the
planting of trees in urban areas by planting trees in roadside areas as well as
in open community areas and encourage students to plant trees in their school
areas to deal with climate change.
Government planted 59.8 hectares in 2021, 29 hectares in
2022 and 30.7 hectares in 2023 in the areas of Donge Chechele, Jendele,
Unguja Ukuu, Kibele, Masingini as well as Zingwe Zingwe and other areas.
With a chief forest officer department of forestry
Zanzibar Mrs . Miza Suleiman Khamis say that the situation of tree
planting is very much in collaboration with the municipal councils and the
environment department every year including the spring and autumn seasons and
especially the trees are planted in the most affected areas in the area where
the sand has been dug up and in the areas where the forests are planted that
are sick to plant trees.
“Through the Green Legacy Program in Zanzibar (green
vegetation) to return the islands of Zanzibar to green vegetation as before
from the office of the President in collaboration with the Ministry of
Agriculture, Natural Resources and Livestock as well as other government and
private institutions to organize Zanzibar in urban planning that was
effective”.
For many decades, Zanzibar has been well known as Green
Island due to the existence of richness of forest cover. The forest cover
is gifted with rich biodiversity, natural resources and a home to some of the
most breath-taking primary rainforests, which to a large extent has constituted
the basis for livelihood growth.
It is one of the world's biodiversity and spice hot-spots
because the variety of ecosystems supports an abundance of species. This
situation has recently begun to change and forest cover start to decline.
Deforestation and environmental degradation in Zanzibar Archipelago has
continued to threaten forestry and hence the community livelihood and the
national economy.
The journey to reclaiming Zanzibar's glory is a long
term endeavor which will entail progress beyond structural and
process changes in the operations of public institutions and non-state
organizations envisaged to be undertaken in the medium term. There is a need to
adopt a long-term strategic perspective in undertaking the Green Legacy Programmed.
Long term perspective : As already noted the transformation of
Zanzibar vegetation cover into green scenario / scenery / vision plays a
crucial role in achieving sustained development by impacting positively on
reduction of the impacts of climate change in the country.
It will require interventions that address improvement in
business processes and cultural re-orientation of the public and leadership at
all levels.
The public will need to adopt a mind-set change towards the
environment and on the other hand, the staff that will be directly involved in
implementation of GLP will need to put in place mechanisms to support the
community members to appreciate the importance of the initiative and take part
in its sustainability.
Finally ,given the comprehensive coverage of the envisaged
GLP, tasks involved as well as lessons learned from other countries indicate
the transformation of Zanzibar towards a green environment will require at
least 10 years of sustained effort. It is therefore proposed that the GLP
be implemented over two phases of 5 years each. This Zanzibar GLP constitutes
Phase 1 from 2022/2023 to 2027/2028.
Back ground
Zanzibar designed and developed a Green Legacy Programme to
inspire and enable all people of Zanzibar and stakeholders to plant and grow
trees to improve its environment for present and future generations. This
is a long term programmed, which is implemented starting from 2022/2023 toward
the realization of the aspiration of achieving sustainable green and climate
resilient Zanzibar.
The Green Legacy Programme deliberates the objectives and
milestones recognized by national, regional and international frameworks
including but not limited to the Zanzibar Development Vision 2050, Zanzibar
Development Plan (ZADEP) 2021– 2026, Zanzibar Environmental Policy 2013, the
Nationally Determined Contribution (2021) and other related policies,
strategies, programmes and plans.
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