DFID urges Tanzania to prepare for uncertain future in climate change - Tanzania has been urged to take action to adapt to climate change by developing robust policies, strategies and plans to prepare for an uncertain future. An official of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), Mr. Marshall Elliott, made the call here Friday.

Warning that it would be a mistake to wait for the right amount of international finance or for perfect weather forecasts and climate science, Mr. Elliott said it was critical that the policy and planning process should be responsive and informed by the voices and experience from the ground.

The DFDI official was speaking at a one-day ‘Climate change Hearings II’ event during which citizens from around the country talked about governance issues and environmental challenges, as well as their success stories with mitigation and adaptation efforts.

“In Tanzania, climate change is likely to impact heavily both on lives of citizens and on the country’s prospects for growth, given the central role that agriculture plays in the livelihoods of over 80 percent of the population,” said Mr. Elliott.

In six droughts from 1980 to 2008, over 7.96 million people were affected in this East African country and, according to experts, climate change will increasingly hit poor people hardest.

Recent extreme cases of adverse weather such as droughts and flooding are said to be costing the equivalent of 1 to 2 percent of Tanzania’s GDP, which is about half of what the government plans to spend on primary education in the 2011/12 fiscal year.

Forecasts indicate that future climate change is likely to increase the cost to as much as 2 percent of GDP per annum by 2030.

Besides ongoing efforts to adapt to uncertain future weather, Elliott observed that there was a huge opportunity for low carbon development and “green growth” in the country.

“Tanzania has abundant alternative energy sources, and future carbon markets should provide avenues for green growth opportunities,” he said.

“We don’t have time to wait to take action. With the climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa, a couple of weeks away, it is important  that national policy makers and negotiators take with them the citizens’ messages that climate variability is affecting the poor and most vulnerable now,” Mr. Elliott added.

Hosted by the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum (TNRF) and the Tanzanian civil society forum on climate change (Forum CC), with funding from DFID, the ‘Climate Change Hearings’ event is aimed at raising public awareness, just 10 days before the start of COP 17 – the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban.

Meanwhile, Forum CC has proposed that in addressing the impact of climate change in Tanzania, immediate focus should be on helping small farmers in both food production and marketing efficiency so that rural livelihoods could become more resilient.

Pana 18/11/2011