Local communities need easier access to climate funds, says Tanzanian environmental leader

Samarkand. Local communities and grassroots organisations in Tanzania continue to face significant barriers in accessing environmental and climate finance despite the availability of global funding opportunities, a leading Tanzanian environmental advocate has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Eighth Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly in Samarkand, the Regional Focal Point for the GEF Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Network, Mr Tumaini Marijani, has called for simplified funding procedures and stronger government support to enable communities to benefit from available resources.

“It is difficult for local communities and small organisations to access these funds,” he said in an interview with The Citizen.

“The procedures, from application to final submission, are not friendly to local people and emerging NGOs,” he added.

Mr Marijani, who is also chairperson of the Tanzania Climate Change Stakeholders Forum, said many rural communities remain unaware that programmes such as the GEF Small Grants Programme provide funding of up to $50,000 (about Sh130 million) for community-based environmental initiatives.

“We need to translate funding opportunities into Kiswahili and make information available at district and ward levels so that local communities know these opportunities exist,” he said.

According to Mr Marijani, government institutions, the private sector, civil society organisations, and the media should work together to raise awareness of environmental financing opportunities.

“The media has a critical role to play. Many farmers cannot access the UNDP or GEF websites. It is our responsibility to inform people that these opportunities exist and encourage them to apply,” he said.

Beyond access to finance, Mr Marijani called for greater government support for affordable clean energy solutions to reduce pressure on forests.

Tanzania loses an estimated 400,000 hectares of forest annually, largely due to charcoal production and firewood collection.

“We need practical solutions that communities can afford. The government should consider subsidising liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), solar energy, and biogas technologies to help rural households reduce dependence on charcoal and firewood,” said Mr Marijani.

He argued that environmental conservation programmes should be directly linked to food security and livelihoods.

“If we separate environmental conservation from food production, we overlook the reality facing smallholder farmers who are struggling to cope with climate change,” he said.

Mr Marijani also advocated greater promotion of fruit tree planting rather than focusing solely on timber species.

“When farmers earn income from fruit trees, they have an incentive to protect them instead of cutting them down,” he said.

As climate change intensifies across East Africa, bringing prolonged droughts and increasingly unpredictable rainfall, he called for greater investment in water harvesting technologies, small-scale irrigation, and livestock feed storage.

“We know that every year, there will be rainy seasons followed by dry periods. Communities should be trained to harvest rainwater, preserve livestock feed, and adopt innovative farming technologies,” he said.

He added that agriculture should increasingly be treated as a business, enabling farmers to improve productivity while conserving natural resources.

On biodiversity conservation, Mr Marijani warned that Tanzania risks losing critical ecosystems unless urgent action is taken.

“We need a national campaign to protect the ecosystems we inherited from previous generations. If we fail to act now, some of these ecosystems may disappear completely,” he said.

He cited the Mkumbawana Pari Museum in Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro Region, as an example of how indigenous communities have successfully protected forests and water sources through traditional knowledge.

“They have protected these resources for generations without advanced technology. There is a great deal we can learn from local communities,” he said.

Mr Marijani also called for reforms to global climate finance mechanisms, including allocating a larger share of funding directly to civil society organisations.

“We are advocating for up to 20 percent of GEF funding to go directly to civil society organisations because they work closest to communities and can deliver impact more quickly,” he said.

He further urged Tanzania to strengthen participation in international environmental forums, noting that such events provide valuable opportunities to connect local organisations with global funders and development partners.

“The financiers are here, the donors are here, and the opportunities are here. We need to ensure that our youth, women, and community organisations are connected to these global networks,” he said.

This story was produced as part of a reporting fellowship to the Eighth GEF Assembly supported by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.