While Africa's corporate world debated at the World Economic Forum in Dar es Salaam last week, the Tanzania Civil Society Forum for Climate Change joined the African People's Forum to bring together residents from across the country to discuss the impact of big business on climate change and livelihoods for the average Tanzanian.

On 20th April, at a workshop held to promote information exchange regarding conflicts between people and elephants in Tanzania, NGOs and wildlife authorities met to encourage dialogue between people and organizations working to avoid further conflict. As a result of the workshop, participants, who included leading NGO practitioners in the field of human-elephant conflict as well as their counterparts in government, decided to move forward with plans to establish a discussion forum on the subject.

In March this year in Tanzania a civil society forum on climate change provided its members with a report of CoP15 - a way for grassroots organizations in Tanzania to learn about the main outcomes and strategize local action to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Over 150 participants from mostly Tanzania, including partner activists from Uganda and Kenya, convened in Dar es Salaam for a 2-day session to learn and plan a coordinated reaction.