Youth concerns
about environment and climate change
Youth
future life is so much threatened with environmental situation ad climate
change all over around the world. Loss of the soil ability to produce,
droughts, earthquakes and other anthropocentric activities puts youth in a very
hard situation and contradiction on what should be done to serve their lives.
YPM
is a nonprofit organization situated in Lushoto District. The organization conducted
an event named Youth Day where one of the essences of this day is to gather
youth from different Secondary schools so that they may be able to raise their
concern about environment and climate change the aim being to increase
awareness to the people about environment and come up with collective solutions
to different environmental problems.
Students
from Different Schools in Lushoto District Participating Youth Day at YPM
Among
of the issues that were raises by youths on this day includes;
School
Dropout and environment. Environmental challenges lead to
school dropout in many cases. This is caused by heavy punishments that students
gets when they go to school while late due to having duties like collecting
firewood or fetching water in the morning before going to school. When their
punished they lose hopes in education and refuse to go to school. This is an
environmental issue because they have to travel for a long distance for water
and firewood due to drought and severe deforestation. (Tree planting)
Early pregnancy and marriages. This was the concern from Prince Clause Secondary school students as
one of the identified environmental challenges. This occurs after school
dropout youths especially girls finds themselves having nothing to do were they
decide to engaged themselves in different immoral behaviors which leads them to
early marriages, early pregnancies and sometimes getting HIV/AIDS. Also raping
occurs most of the time when they are looking for water or firewood.
Environmental challenges also results to separation of families and marriages.
Many women are divorced when late from the fetching water or collecting
firewood which creates street children in the society.
Students from Ubiri
Secondary school demonstrating school dropout and early marriage as an
environmental issue.
Is
Environment a gender issue?
Youths have discovered that environment is a gender issue by showing
different challenges that both men and women faces which are caused by
environmental destruction. Poverty among women, women have been observed to be
involved in agricultural activities and production more than men. Environmental
destruction causes climate change which reduces the ability of land to produce;
this causes women to suffer looking for food for their children and families.
Students from Shambalai Secondary school commented that droughts and unreliable
rainfall creates unprofitable agriculture.
Youth
are so much exposed to Poverty, hunger and Famine. Intensive
use of Natural resources without replacements and restoration makes youth to be
in fear of their future. Too much deforestation today which leads to lack of
rain creates droughts which affect land’s ability to produce. This concerned
was raised by students from Lushoto Secondary School during the event. This
continues to expose youth in to different diseases such as malnutrition, and
waterborne disease. Poverty also will exceed as so many Africans families
incomes depends on agriculture.
Government
efforts toward Environmental Conservation and Restoration.
On this day youth
wanted to be aware of the current Government efforts towards environmental
conservation and climate restoration within the district. A representative from
Lushoto District Council answered by explaining different efforts made by the
Government on the Matter.
The government has imposed fines to the illegal
use of Natural Resource like forest. In the year 2015/2016 they have collected 11 million from fines imposed to the
people who were caught collecting firewood, timber and burning charcoal. Also
the government is making efforts to provide education to the community about
environment and this made them to discover that above 1500 people in the
district do not have toilets.
District Environmental
Officer Mr. Lymo
The District also make
the use of Forest Act of 2007 which gives penalty to person who lights fire in
the forest by giving a punishment of 14 year imprisonment. Example the case of
2009 Republic versus Selemani Shempasi and four others who were convicted by the District court of
Lushoto to serve five year in prison and to give compensation. All these are
the Government efforts to ensure that environment is protected for today and
future Generation.
Do
youth have a chance to give their possible solutions towards environmental
conservation?
During the event, youth
from different schools demonstrated different ways that may be applied to
ensure that environment is protected and restored for their future. Different creative strategy for environment
restoration on a renewable energy was demonstrated by students from Mazinde Juu
Secondary school. This renewable Energy is expected to be collected from wind.
The aim of this demonstration was to show that community can shift from the use
of firewood and charcoal to serve the environment.
Students
from Mazinde Juu explaining how wind can be harvested
Another strategy was
demonstrated by Shambalai Seconday School. They concentrated on planting trees
which will reduce CO2 on air and trees will act as wind breakers. They came up
with a diagram which shows the environmental impact between the area which do
not have trees and the area which contains number of trees. They added by saying that trees reduce
possibilities of the occurrence of erosion either by wind of running water
therefore trees does not only act as a CO2 sinker but also can help in the
addition of soil fertility and trees ensures the availability of water.
Students from shambalai Secondary school.
As the
matter of energy use and poor disposal of wastes in concerned in developing
countries, Ubiri Secondary school students demonstrated different ways which my
be used to reduce concentration on natural resources. They demonstrated on how
people can use used papers to make charcoal that instead of throwing them away
they can be recycled. They also demonstrated how people can use the remains from
charcoal (charcoal arsh) to make another charcoal. As the picture below
demonstrate.
The
Questions remains that: the world efforts is to reduce the concentration of CO2
on air by discouraging industrialization and the use of non renewable energy.
For developing countries like Tanznia we are in the era of Industrialization as
the moto of the 5th Government is concerned (Tanzania ya Viwanda). A student from Shambalai Secondary school
named Samwel Thomas (A-Level) is asking on how will the Government take in to
consideration the issues of environment conservation with Tanzania Ya Viwanda? Is is suggested by the students that efforts of
indusrialization should consider environmental conservation for the current and
future generation.
