Vice President to grace MCL forum on climate change

Dar es Salaam. Vice President Dr Philip Mpango today is expected to officiate the next edition of Mwananchi Thought Leadership Forum that aims to discuss matters related to climate change.

A brainchild of Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL), the forum, which is expected to be attended by between 200 and 300 will focus on the theme; “Exploring Tanzanian Responses and Solutions” with issues to do with the environment and innovation deliberated effectively.

Speaking about the conference, MCL’s managing director Bakari Machumu, said that the forum was a continuation of what has been done by the company in bringing various stakeholders including Civil Society organisations (CSOs) and academics to look at how environmental issues are given impetus to produce the desired results.

This conference is being held a few days before the celebration of World Environment Day on June 5, also about five months since the first conference was held at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM).

"You can't always get results by doing something different, but by doing the same thing regularly until you reach a point where the people who it affects or causes harm can put it in their minds and that's when change can happen," said Mr Machumu.

He noted that the debate will highlight all sides because of what he explained that the environment will be safe if it is taken care of, so pollution must be condemned by showing that what happens to the environment will be affected and if that happens, it cannot come back.

"Our intention is for people to realize that prevention is better than cure, to what extent there will be strategies and methods to show how we can prevent the environment from being damaged,” he noted.

In the conference, some of the discussions that will be held include how the environment changes and its challenges in the development of Tanzania, the environment and innovation, the environment that can affect the availability of food.

Other discussions are the way in which water sources and other environmental sources can be put in a condition that can help the world to run, how the environment if taken care of can help to get reliable energy that will enable production.

"We want it to be a discussion to look at and raise awareness of preventing environmental damage ourselves and learn some of the methods that have worked in other areas that can reduce the effects of environmental damage and imitate methods that can bring great results,” he said.