Vice President Graces World Environment Day

On June 5 every year World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated globally and this year, representing the President of Tanzania, H.E. John Pombe Joseph Magufuli; the Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania, H.E. Samia Suluhu Hassan, led commemorations in Tanzania under the national theme of ‘Charcoal is expensive, use alternative energy’. The Vice President inaugurated a beach wall that was funded by UN Environment and implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment in the Vice President’s Office.

The beach wall is located along Barack Obama Drive in Dar es salaam and was built with the purpose of conserving the coastline from rising sea levels – an impact of climate change. The length of the wall is paved, has floodlights and has benches for people to sit on which means that it will have a positive environment and economic impact on the area.

Speaking at the launch, of the event, the Vice President called on Dar es Salaam residents to preserve the wall and thanked the UN and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for supporting the construction of the wall. “Let’s take care of the environment so that the environment takes care of us…I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Global Environmental Facility for funding the construction of walls such as this in Tanzania. I would also like to thank UN Environment for implementing projects such as this and UNOPS for overseeing the construction of the wall,” she said at the opening of the wall.

On his side, UN Resident Coordinator, Mr. Alvaro Rodriguez commended the government for taking climate action in a number of areas and reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to continue supporting adaptation to the impacts of climate change in Tanzania. “In commemorating the World Environment Day, Tanzania shares her commitment in the global environmental agenda by addressing emerging environmental challenges on Climate Change,” said Mr. Rodriguez. “With charcoal, plastic production is a serious challenge in the country; we need to rethink the way we use charcoal and replace it with alternative energy sources. We also need to think of sustainable ways to manage the use of plastics.”

The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) also took part in WED commemorations by participating in an exhibition on alternative technology solutions to charcoal, from 28th-5th, June 2018 In line with the national theme, ‘Charcoal is expensive, use alternative energy’.