Every day thousands of mature trees are felled and burned to make charcoal which is often shunted in lorries to urban centres. Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has seen this wanton felling of trees, a situation that is likely to turn many locations in this country into deserts.
The premier has called for urgent measures to redress the situation. He says other means should be employed in heating. He has called on government institutions that use firewood and charcoal, notably schools, military camps and others, to use other heating methods including using gas or kerosene.
In urban centres charcoal is used in heating by 90 per cent, a destructive scenario, indeed. In villages nearly all heating is done by using firewood.
This trend has persisted for many years causing the country to lose 370,00 hectares of vegetation, mainly mature trees, every year. Well, vegetation must be given chance to recover. Loggers are other culprits who fell trees with complete abandon.
A few months ago Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa called for the formation of an agency that will monitor closely the harvesting and selling of forest products countrywide. He wants all forest products to be sold in competitive bidding arrangements.
The upshot here is to ensure that the government earns its fair share of the revenue generated from the sales of forest products.
This initiative stems from the stark reality that random harvesting of forest products has largely remained in greedy hands for too long.
Consequently, the state has moved in and slapped a complete ban on the practice. The envisaged forestry agency will maintain tight control of forest product sales and, indeed, ensure that government revenue collection increases.
The canker in this respect is the disgusting fact that while the nation’s forest reserves appear to be vanishing, not much revenue is credited to government accounts. Much of the money is siphoned off by dishonest government officials and their cronies.
The main culprits, who must be stopped in their tracks, are forestry officials in the central government as well as district councils. It is this lopsided arrangement that offers loopholes to greedy officials who are notorious for pocket state revenue.
Indeed, Tanzania has a rich forest cover. Nearly all regions have natural forests that must be protected come what may. It is high time President John Joseph Magufuli’s administration took notice.
source- www.dailynews.co.tz
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