GOVERNMENT STRATEGY TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT IS WELCOME
The government has come up with its most comprehensive plan yet to combat environmental degradation, and it’s about time.
The Ten-Year Strategic Environmental Conservation Plan was fittingly unveiled in Dodoma on World Environment Day last weekend.
The government said the plan is in response to uncontrolled livestock migration, expansion of agricultural activities, degradation of water sources and wetlands, excessive use of firewood and charcoal, and inadequate waste management, among other factors.
That the government has decided to formulate a strategy that will be implemented in the next decade is not entirely surprising given the gravity of the situation. The fact is that environmental degradation resulting from human activities has reached a point where concrete action needs to be taken to curb the trend.
The relevant authorities have for far too long paid lip service to environmental concerns despite the fact that it has been a number of years now since Tanzania began to feel the effects of environmental degradation in the form of erratic weather patterns brought about by climate change.
While some factors may be beyond our control and can be conveniently blamed on industrialised nations, there are many others for which we are wholly to blame as rightly pointed out in the report.
Very few people will dispute the fact that Tanzania’s forest cover is disappearing at an alarming rate. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations puts the annual deforestation rate at whopping 4,200 square kilometres.
This is an alarming figure whichever way one looks at it because it means that Tanzania could turn in a parched desert nation in as little as 100 years.
Measures outlined in the 10-year plan are all well and good, but success will depend on political goodwill and Tanzanians understanding and appreciating the gravity of the problem.
AVOID UNHEALTHY EATING HABITS
According to the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre, people aged between 15 and 59 face a high risk of dying from diseases arising from what and how they eat.
Stroke, coronary and rheumatic heart diseases are the leading causes of death and an important factor contributing to disability. Cervix, uterine and breast cancer, among women, and lung and prostate cancer, in men, are leading killers.
The shared related risk factors include smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, unhealthy eating habits, physical inactivity, high blood pressure and high blood lipids and blood sugar.
The good news is that these diseases are preventable. Just consider limiting sugar consumption, eating whole meal cereals, vegetables and fresh fruits; restricting animal fats; encouraging fish and vegetable oils and avoiding adding salt to prepared food.
Also, people of all ages should avoid a sedentary lifestyle, which is now mostly linked to a middle-class that is getting more prosperous.
