THE minister of State, Vice-President’s Office (Union and Environment), Mussa Azzan Zungu says Tanzania will benefit from US Dollars 100 billion set by the world to preserve the environment as well as averting climate change.
He revealed this in Parliament when responding to a question by Werezo Lawmaker, Saada Mkuya Salum who wanted to know the strategies put in place to avert climate change, as developed countries decided to cut down aid in support of environmental conservation.
Mr Zungu said following the establishment of the global fund, Tanzania was in the process of requesting funds for preserving the country’s environment as well as planting trees in many areas.
According to the minister, the government strategy was to plant trees in different areas across the country and to begin with, the government was expected to plant one million trees in Kilimanjaro region.
He said that the Green Climate Fund was established by France and Qatar to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The newly-appointed minister asked Tanzanians to refrain from cutting down trees insisting that deforestation in the country stood at 9.9 per cent.
“Between 1990 and 2010 there was a high speed in the country in cutting down trees to an extent that about 8million hectors of trees are swept each year,” said the minister.
Responding to a supplementary question posed by Special Seats MP, Rhoda Kunchela (CHADEMA), who sought to know the government’s plan to have more gas available in the country in order to avoid cutting down of trees, Mr Zungu said the government had started supplying gases in households in Dar es Salaam and that the exercise would continue in other regions including Iringa where an MP comes from.
