On January 16^th, the Constitutional Review Commission invited TNRF and two other NGOs - HakiArdhi and SHARINGO - to present civil society's views and opinions about the role of natural resources and environmental issues in the constitution.  Following a one-day workshop where TNRF collected input from CSOs, TNRF presented the opinions on the new constitution to the Commission.  The Commission provided feedback and TNRF will submit all final opinions to the Commission by January 25^th.

Key Issues Identified for Consideration in Constitution

The process to collate the views on the new constitution was facilitated through a one-day workshop at WWF country offices in Dar-es-Salaam.

The contributions by the participating organizations covered five areas on natural resources and environment:

• Renewable natural resources
• Non-renewable resources
• Livelihoods and natural resources
• Environment
• Emerging and cross-cutting issues e.g. climate change and gender

These five issues guided the discussions over the course of the one-day workshop. After collating all the contributions and discussions by stakeholders, a small secretariat from the group compiled all the issues for submission to the Constitutional Review Commission. In summary, the following issues emerged from the discussions as major points that should be considered for Tanzania's constitution:

• The role of local communities living close to natural resources and their right to manage, own and access benefits from these resources
• Transparency in management, benefits generation and distribution of natural resources such as gas, oil and forests
• Recognition of traditional mechanisms to manage, control and harvest natural resources
• The government should have reasonable investment share in non-renewable resources such as gas, oil and minerals
• The constitution should prohibit investment incentives related to natural resources to protect nature and address sustainable development
• Citizens should have the right to a clean and safe environment
• The role of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in scrutinizing all investments on natural resources in terms of social, economic and environmental impacts and benefits
• A fair power balance between local and central government in natural resources governance should exist

Feedback from the Constitutional Review Commission

TNRF presented the opinions on the new constitution to the Commission on behalf of five representatives selected during the one-day workshop. Generally, the opinions submitted to the commission were very well received. Dr. Seng'ondo Mvungi, who is a member of the commission, said to the group:

"It's for the first time we (the commission) have received such substantive recommendations (on natural resources)...and there are a lot of complaints from the citizens on benefits from natural resources."

Dr. Mvungi also cited the recent demonstrations in Tanzania in line with the issue of benefits and ownership to communities living near natural resources.

The following summarizes the feedback from the Commission in response and addition to the opinions submitted:

• There are a lot of challenges for Civil Society Organization working in natural resources sector as most resources are controlled by central government.
• It is important to address the issue of right to ownership, access, and benefits of local communities on natural resources - here the example of WMAs was emphasized
• In terms of non-renewable resources, the commission recommended the opinions be expanded to include,
  • The law that will put time limitation to extraction of non-renewable resources
  • The law that will address damage and destruction caused by extraction of resources
• In terms of investments, the commission had the following recommendations,
  • The exhaustive definition of ‘public interests' pertaining to investments on natural resources
  • The formation of investment court to settle disputes in the country rather than in international courts
• The role of Genetically Modified Organisms and their impact on the environment
• The obligation of Tanzania to adopt and implement AU related policies and frameworks

The way forward

TNRF will take on board all the suggestions and comments from the commission to improve the opinions and re-submit civil society feedback. The deadline for submission of all opinions has been set for 25^thJanuary 2013. This submission will not be the end for CSOs to continue commenting on the formulation of the new constitution. The commission mentioned the possibility of CSOs on natural resources to form a coalition ‘Baraza la Katiba' once the first draft is out in April 2013. In parallel to this process, the commission will form a ‘constitutional parliament' made up of various stakeholders including CSOs.