Summary
· Data produced by the Ministry of Energy in Dar es Salaam last year showed that, despite being largely considered to be cheaper options, charcoal, firewood, and crop residues were having profoundly detrimental impacts on people’s health, causing up to 33,000 deaths annually.
Dodoma. The government has set January 31, 2025, as the deadline
for the use of charcoal and firewood by institutions.
The move is part of efforts to stop
the use of energy sources that are hazardous to the health of individuals and
the environment.
Data produced by the Ministry of
Energy in Dar es Salaam last year showed that, despite being largely considered
to be cheaper options, charcoal, firewood, and crop residues were having
profoundly detrimental impacts on people’s health, causing up to 33,000 deaths
annually.
The population of households using
clean cooking energy in Tanzania stands at between 4.5 and eight percent.
It is against this background that
the minister of State in the Vice President’s Office (Union and Environment),
Dr Seleman Jafo, said here yesterday that more than 46,960 hectares of forests,
equivalent to 26 percent of Tanzania’s landmass, get destroyed every year due
to the felling of trees for firewood and charcoal.
He thus ordered all institutions
that serve not less than 100 people to stop using firewood and charcoal by
January 31, 2024, while those institutions serving people whose numbers start
at 200 will have to stop using the energy source on January 31, 2025.
“According to the available
statistics, it is estimated that 16 percent of the land has been destroyed and
could turn into a desert because of illegal charcoal and firewood activities,”
said Dr Jafo.
He said the energy from firewood is
widely used because it is easier to obtain and many people can afford it,
unlike other energy sources such as electricity and gas.
However, the minister said despite
its affordability, the use of firewood and charcoal affects the health of the
user by causing diseases after inhaling poisonous gases that affect the lungs
and heart and cause respiratory diseases in children.
He said the government has laid out
a strategy to reduce those effects by preparing a National Vision for the Use
of Clean Energy for Cooking and a Strategic Plan for the Implementation of the
Vision for a period of ten years until 2033.
“With the authority given to me
under Section 13 of the Environmental Management Act, Chapter 191, I impose a
ban on all public and private institutions in Mainland Tanzania that prepare
food and feed more than 100 people per day to stop the use of firewood and
charcoal by January 31, 2024,” he noted.
“I also impose a ban on institutions
that prepare food and feed more than 300 people per day to stop using firewood
and charcoal by January 31, 2025,” ordered Dr Jafo.
The minister also directed gas and
stove firms to use the ban as an opportunity to meet the expected growing
demand
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