Environment and Energy

Tanzania has ratified several international and regional conventions with regard to environment regulations. However, like many developing countries, Tanzania is faced with fundamental environmental and energy challenges which have a big impact in the growth of the economy. Water pollution in coastal and inland waterways, industrial pollution in urban areas and de-forestations are the main environmental tyrannies facing Tanzania. Indeed, the country has not been able to take advantage of the available technologies to create a sustainable environmentally friendly situation The National Environment Management Council (NEMC) continues to offer technical assistance and raise awareness on rational resource use and environmental protection to government and general public.

Four management systems for assistance on adoption of environmentally sustainable natural resources management practices have been identified, namely : 1) the network of national parks, 2) the national system of game reserves as a second network of protected areas, 3) community-based approaches in areas adjacent to protected areas on lands owned by communities and supported by local districts and 4) coastal resources at both the national and local levels.

With regard to Energy, petrol fuel, hydro electric and coal are major sources of commercial energy in the country. Charcoal which results from tree burning is also widely used in urban areas with a very big price of environment degradation. The trend of energy consumption in Tanzania is dominated by biomass that accounts for 90%, petrol accounts for 8% and electricity accounts for 1.2%. Other energy sources such as coal, solar and wind accounts for less than 1%. The growth rate of the energy sector was 4% in 1999 and 5% in 2000 as a result of increase in production of electricity and demand by consumers particularly the industrial ones.

The opportunities available for the environment and energy sector are in the areas of : (i) petroleum-Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation in collaboration with international companies, Dublin International, CANOP (T) Ltd and Ndovu Resources continue research and exploration in southern regions and along the coastal line (ii) solar - Global Environment Facility (GEF) sponsored data collection for preparation of solar development programme. Negotiations are in progress on reducing duties on solar equipment; (iii) natural gas - negotiations are ongoing on how to utilize natural gas found in deposits in the south coastal areas; (iv) wind: research on establishing speed of wind has been completed and potential areas are identified for wing energy and (v) geothermal on which research is on going and a private company, First Energy in collaboration with investors is working on possibility of starting an electricity generation project.