European Union awards school children for their efforts in designing green cities and planting over 2000 trees under climate change campaign
Today, the Head of Delegation of the European Union to Tanzania and the EAC, H.E. Ambassador Manfredo Fanti, the Ambassador of Finland, H.E. Riitta Swan, the Ambassador of Belgium, H.E. Peter Van Acker and the Ambassador of Ireland, H.E. Mary O'Neill presented awards to pupils from five schools for their outstanding efforts to design green cities of their future. This competition was part of a Green City Design and Tree Planting initiative which started in May this year when the European Union launched its Green Deal climate change campaign, “Resilience!”
During the ceremony, the Ambassadors highlighted the European Union ambition to become climate neutral by 2050. They praised the school children for their thoughtful works in planning sustainable cities and for their ability to project.
Thanks to the cooperation between the Embassy of Finland and the local NGO FORUM CC, more than 2,000 trees have been planted in Dar es Salaam in five schools, LGA offices, and health centres and communities with the aim of providing much needed shade in urban areas, greening the city and contributing to resilience against the changing climate.
The “Resilience!” campaign has promoted awareness about the need for everyone to take action for the environment and address the impact of climate change. In the past six months, the European Union has organised beach clean-ups, conducted workshops and exhibitions, engaged school-children in tree planting and green city designing activities and has organised a cycling event scheduled on 31 October.
An interactive exhibition with the theme “Resilience!” was also on display at the award ceremony using QR code technology, which showcased European Union projects in the natural resources sector.
Background:
Tanzania is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with most of the rural population relying on rain-fed and hence climate sensitive agriculture. Strengthening resilience is crucial to ensuring sustainable socio-economic development and food and nutrition security. The EU promotes climate action through a wide range of initiatives, from policy and institutional development supporting Tanzania to develop its Nationally Determined Contributions, to community-based projects such as the eco-village concept. This includes promoting innovative approaches in agriculture, livestock, water, energy and natural resource management in selected villages, such as agroforestry, rainwater harvesting, and fuel-efficient cooking stoves. The EU is further working on decentralised and community-based natural resource management for wildlife, forest and marine ecosystems. Support has been provided to the development of two Wildlife Management Areas in Western Serengeti and two in Kilombero and Lower Rufiji wetlands, participatory forest management in Kilimanjaro, Manyara and Morogoro regions and fisheries co-management in the coastal belt from Dar es Salaam to Mtwara.
