Environmental protection in Tanzania

Hello Kenjee

I am an expat who takes an interest in environmental issues in my spare time.

I think the first thing that most Tanzanians think of as regards environment are issues like planting trees and deforestation.
- renewable energy - there is a burgeoning solar photovoltic sector with different innovative business models growing quickly.  The main aim here is rural electrification.  Solar is becoming very well known and common.  On the other hand, some low cost solar lamps are of poor quality and stop working quickly, just becoming waste.
-  There is poor general understanding about what is a fossil fuel and what is not, and very poor general understanding of climate change and its causes
- there are some waste management initiatives, but very little general knowledge of basic concepts such as differences between different types of waste, and a general practice of burning everything (including biodegradeable as well as plastic and toxic materials) all together in a pile - even the President did this on his recent clean-up-Dar initiative (burning valuable biodegradeable material such as leaves mixed up with plastic for example).  There are some waste management projects in Dar es Salaam and one recycling company that deals with a variety of waste.  Plastic bottles are collected by poor people and brought for recycling and they get some money for that.
- Transport - there is very little understanding of the benefits of promoting cycling and public transport both environmentally and for other reasons.  UWABA is a cycle campaign group in Dar which has campaigned for many years on this issue.  While cycling as urban transport is popular among the two extremes of the social scale - professional expats on the one hand and among security guards and Tanzanian men who do small businesses on the other hand, it is extremely uncommon to see professional Tanzanian office workers cycling, or Tanzanian women generally
- Building - I don't think there is much understanding of how to make buildings energy efficient.  In a hot climate, this involves making them naturally cooler.  Mature trees on a building site are often cut down before building begins.  Alliance Francais did have a seminar on green architecture recently.
- there is only one company selling solar water heaters in Dar es Salaam even though there are now modern homes in the more upmarket areas which have hot water from gas or other boilers, which makes no sense to me whatsoever when water can be heated very easily in solar water heaters.

Best wishes
Elaine