It’s a moment of gratefulness to God in the context of leaning through various media outlets including 'social media'; voicing about the importance of preserving and caring the environment with great emphasis on tree-planting all-over the country. For nearly three years, encouraging voices from top-government leaders have been caught, inspiring Tanzanians to protect natural forests while encouraging environmental conservation, at the same time, requiring citizens to plant plenty of tree species in ecologically suitable landscapes. I highly commend these efforts, especially considering the fact that over the years the environment has been severely damaged in both rural and urban settings.

Instead of humans taking good care of the environment so that the environment can take-care of people to live in peace and tranquility; this concept has turned into a complete opposite direction. The state of the environment in the country and elsewhere in the world has changed dramatically due to human actions that do not consider the importance of living eco-friendly while taking care of the environment around humans. Our natural resources forests/woodlands in particular plus wetlands have been severely damaged through wildfires which burn down-forests, woodlands and very quickly drying-up wetlands hence causing severe calamitous outcomes.

In rural areas and for many years, agriculture has been a major driver of destruction and disappearance of large areas of natural forests/woodlands and sometimes establishment of new settlements besides large livestock movements without following procedures and good land-use planning, are situations that have contributed to the destruction of forests/woodlands. Thanks to God, now environmental protection and tree-planting are amongst important national memos. Likewise, our spiritual leaders through various religions and sects; the issue of environmental destruction is also highly emphasized by encouraging tree-planting in various landscapes on the mainland.

Environmental protection is a spiritual issue since the creation of the world millions of years ago. The Almighty God created the earth and all that fills it and placed man overall for what God created. On the sixth day after creating the man in his ‘image and likeness’, God placed him in the beautiful and attractive garden of ‘Eden’. But when God looked at the human-being created along with the animals and other creatures created before the man, God realized that there was not a single animal that looked like the man; then God brought to the man a woman created from the rib taken from the man so that she could be a close assistant and one who shall easily understand each-other while residing together.

The garden of 'Eden' in-which "Adam and Eve" stayed God blessed them and life began in earnest. Then God commanded them saying "be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth, also take care with divine wisdom, the garden and all that was created. God also gave them the authority to acquire food/medicines of the nature. Likewise, humans were commanded to rule over, all that had been created including resources in water (fish and various creatures), the air (birds), the land (forests/trees, wildlife), and everything else in general.

In reality, environmental protection is dealing with God's creation. Similarly, when various religious sects emphasize environmental protection, they encourage humans to live well without destroying the 'creation' in its true nature. For example, in the Holy Scriptures through the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel Chapter 47 (12) it is written: “And by the river, on its banks, on this side and on that side, shall grow all kinds of food trees, the leaves of which shall not wither, nor shall their fruit fail; they shall yield new fruit every month, because its waters flow from the sanctuary; and its fruit shall be for food and the leaves for medicine. This is the true creation that the Almighty God made through which humans were given ownership and control.

Considering the steps taken by the Government including the initiative for using clean energy for cooking, and in industrial processing and production; not only for Tanzania but also the focus extended to Africa and the world in general; to significantly reduce dependency on energy sources that lead to environmental degradation including firewood and charcoal as well as environmentally unfriendly-energies for industrial uses, such advocacy is very encouraging, indeed. Likewise, the private sector especially traders and others are noted embracing this opportunity so that Tanzania can avoid environmental destruction and pollution in residential areas plus workplaces.

When religious leaders encourage environmental conservation, they want the weather, and seasons to continue providing relief to human-life and other creatures created by God. The basis of all this is to ensure that we live well with nature/environment around us. For example, abandoning the bad-habit of throwing garbage or flowing sewage indiscriminately to the point of clogging ditches and causing the scourge of floodings in the streets; as well as polluting rivers or dams through toxic sewage, industrial drugs/chemicals as well as the environment inside and outside our homes becoming dirty or not-habitable.

Efforts must be made to stop cutting down trees or clearing forests indiscriminately instead, focus on planting trees in abundance, whether for shade, various fruits or to preserve the soil and environment in general and let us do so without hesitation. Let us build a culture for every Tanzanian to love planting trees and protecting native trees/forests for the benefit of future generations. It is understood that most of natural forest/woodland resources have been used recklessly thereby causing some native tree-species to disappear, for example, ‘Mininga (Pterocarpus angolensis), Mivule (Milicia excelsa), some Miombo species’. Nationally, if truly determined, still Tanzania has the opportunity to plant-tree species that are threatened with extinction either through conservation strategies and/or planting same trees specie to preserve the genetic materials for the future needs.

Fortunately, through the Tanzania Forestry Research Institute (TAFORI) the government allotted Guidelines specifying suitable trees-species to plant in different taking into account the geographical/ecological realities in Tanzania, including climatic conditions. Likewise, through the Department of Forestry and Beekeeping, the Government in 2024 issued key documents on: National Strategy narrating how to do agroforestry; National Guidelines on the Preparation and Maintenance of Tree Nursery and National Guidelines on Planting and Maintenance of Trees.

Through these, the Government is committed to ensuring that the environment is protected and maintained through tree planting, including the efficient use of land resources. I urge the Government not to stop at providing these guidelines, but also to ensure they are disseminated and used appropriately. Through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, in collaboration with RALG, District Councils, Town Councils, Municipalities and City Councils; including engagement of private sector and other governmental and non-governmental institutions (NGOs) interested in forest-conservation, wildlife and tree-planting; the guidelines be put to effective-uses accordingly. Forestry professionals especially those working in government, in Councils and other rural areas; the issue of maintaining and preserving forests, as well as planting trees in large numbers, should be a matter of life and death. It can be done play your part-well!

Dr. Felician Kilahama (pictured) is an environmental expert with extensive experience in forestry and beekeeping in Tanzania based in Dar es Salaam