NEW APPROACH TO TACKLE AND PLAN FOR CLIMATE CHANGE IN TANZANIA’S DRYLANDS
Submitted by Website Officer on 26 January 2012 - 8:08am
January 25, 2012
Arusha - A new program to strengthen and increase efforts to plan for climate change in Tanzania was launched today. “District development plans do not sufficiently address climate variability or change,” said Regional Commissioner of Arusha, Hon. Mlongo. Building capacity to adapt to climate change will be critical to future social and economic development, he explained.
The Regional Commissioner was addressing participants at the inception workshop for a new program, Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation in Drylands Development Planning in Tanzania. The program will seek to bring local knowledge and participationinto planning processes so as to ensure that communities have the ability and capacity to adequately adapt to the impacts of climate change.
“All key stakeholders must pull their strengths together to begin a long journey of addressing the impacts of climate change,” said Alais Morindat, Program Coordinator for International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). “This program is a space where trials can be made, tools developed, mechanisms set up and enhanced, as all of these are essential in order to safeguard the livelihoods of Tanzanian citizens,” he explained.
The first year of the program will serve as a preparatory phase to strategically design and develop a five-year program aimed at testing approaches and mechanisms to strengthen the institutional capacity for climate adaptation in northern Tanzania. The program will be carried out in three districts—Longido, Monduli and Ngorongoro. Additionally, the program will seek tools and approaches for incorporating climate change into local planning that are cost-effective and useful for other local governments and civil society groups throughout Tanzania and regionally.
“We look forward to working with national level institutions and players to make sure that we do really learn lessons from this initiative and to ensure that they are relevant to the requirements of the country,” said Carol Sorensen, Coordinator of the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum (TNRF).
The program is being coordinated by TNRF in collaboration with CSO partners, district officials from Monduli, Longido and Ngorongoro, and with technical support from IIED. This inception period is being funded by UKAID’s Department for International Development.
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