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Press Release

The city of Dar es Salaam is set to host the 2nd Annual East Africa Timber Trade Stakeholders Forum to be held at the Giraffe Ocean Hotel from 28th - 29th May 2014.
 
This year’s Forum is set to help coordinate solutions to the illegal and unsustainable timber trade in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique.  It is a follow up to last year’s meeting when participants from the region first came together to assess regional timber trade needs and actions.

 
Over 50 participants from various sectors involved in conservation and timber trade are expected to attend this meeting organized by TRAFFIC, WWF and the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum. 
 
The illegal trade in timber represents a significant loss in local and national revenues, with estimates for the continent as a whole indicating loses of over $17 billion per year.  In the eastern Africa region the illegal timber trade is also a driver of environmental degradation.  What is needed to reverse these negative impacts is better knowledge of how the illegal trade functions at various scales, improved law enforcement and positive incentives for a legal and sustainable trade.  These needs will be discussed at this Forum meeting bringing together participants from regional bodies like SADC and EAC together with national forest departments, researchers, the private sector and international timber trade experts. 
 
The Forum will also seek to influence current and future interventions on timber trade through sharing new information and aims to develop an agreed set of actions to go forward over the next year.
 
For more information please contact John Kabubu on +255 687 206 184 or email jkabubu@wwfesarpo.org

Press Release

The Government released the Natural Gas Policy, 2013 in October 2013 carrying an important message to the public that “Natural gas resource found in Tanzania belongs to the people of the United Republic of Tanzania, and must be managed in a way that benefits the entire Tanzanian society”.

Management of the resource and realization of associated benefits requires concerted efforts to enable adequate participation of Tanzanians along the entire value chain. These efforts will involve, among others, developing relevant specific policies and strategies, and building requisite capacity to Tanzanians and enterprises owned by Tanzanians. It is only through this strategy that the country can walk into the gas economy with “increased level of use of Tanzanian local expertise, goods and services, people, businesses and financing in oil and gas activities”

On 07^Th March 2013, Tanzania Pastoralist Community Forum (TPCF) organized a dialogue with members of the Constitutional Assembly to discuss the most relevant sections in the on-going discussions and activated debates on referendum of the draft Constitution of Tanzania. The dialogue also was aimed to call support from decision makers on the need for Tanzania pastoralist policy. The dialogue was attended by 15 members of the Constitutional assembly and Member of Parliaments of Republic of Tanzania. The dialogue also invited University students from pastoral communities, Care Tanzania, and TNRF as part of facilitation. The dialogue officiated by Deputy Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Development, H.E. Saningo Kaika Telele. The closing remarks were made by Minister for Industry and investment, Dr. Mary Nagu.