Every two years the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) joins together its members and African Ministers for a weeklong meeting to discuss environmental issues in Africa and globally. These meetings have been very instrumental in defining positions of African countries towards climate change and other environmental issues. This year the AMCEN meeting took place from 10th - 14th of September in Arusha. 

On Thursday representatives from the government, development partners, academic institutions, and national and international civil society organizations gathered together to discuss the status of community based natural resource management (CBNRM) in Tanzania. The workshop was hosted by TNRF and it was the first of what is hoped to become a series of dialogues on CBNRM.  The aim is to provide a platform for multi-stakeholder exchange of information, sharing experiences and agreeing on a common course for the success of CBNRM in the country. The platform is part of the regional Southern Africa CBNRM Forum (SACF) of which TNRF is a member.

Both The Guardian and the Citizen have reported on the high-level Development Partner Group meeting on the Environment (DPGE) that was hosted in Dar es Salaam last week.  The meeting was significant because it provided space for the Government of Tanzania to voice their priority environmental concerns to DPGE.  Being the only CSO invited to attend, TNRF was fortunate to have an inside look and to lend a civil society perspective to the discussion.

"A lot of discussion focused on many of the natural resource challenges we face today - such as climate change," says Alais Morindat, Project Coordinator for TNRF's Climate Change Adaptation Program. "But there was also a lot of attention given to post-Rio+20 and green economy issues, and opinions were shared about how DPGEs can best support Tanzania in sustainable, green development."

The meeting also brought up the forthcoming Africa Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) Civil Society Workshop that will take place in Arusha from 7^th to 9^th September 2012. The purpose of the meeting is to enable civil society actors from Africa participate in a dialogue aimed at taking stock of Rio+20 Conference held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and charting a common Civil Society position in the approaching COP 18 to be held in Doha, Qatar and beyond. TNRF will also participate in this event.