CLIMATE CHANGE WILL AFFECT NATURE’S ECOSYSTEMS AND THE HABITATS

By Friday Simbaya, Iringa

Climate change will affect nature’s ecosystems and the habitats that support life—from oceans to grasslands to forests. 

Changes are expected to alter the makeup and functioning of ecosystems, as well as some of the critical benefits that ecosystems provide to people; this is according to United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Climate change can threaten ecosystems that have already been weakened by other human activities such as pollution, development, and overharvesting. This fact sheet describes some of the ways that climate change affects ecosystems.

What Is an Ecosystem? 

An ecosystem is an interdependent system of plants, animals, and microorganisms interacting with one another and with their physical environment. 

Ecosystems provide people with food, goods, medicines, and many other products. They also play a vital role in nutrient cycling, water purification, and climate moderation.

Recently the Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Samia Hassan has launched a Task Force that is going to work for 30 days and make recommendations on how to protect the ecosystem of Great Ruaha River. 

VP Mama Samia said it is the responsibility of every Tanzanian to ensure that they protect the ecosystem of the river which dries is for 169 days after rain season stops. 

The ecosystem of the Great Ruaha River Basin contributes 20% of GDP and more than 6 million people depend on the presence of the ecosystem of the Great Ruaha River for livelihoods. 

The launch of task force took place in Iringa region and was attended by regional commissioners of Iringa and Njombe regions and various ministers including Prof Jumanne Maghembe, Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, Eng. Grayson Lwenge Minister of Water and Irrigation, and Eng. Charles Tizeba Minister of Agriculture and Livestock.

Others were the chief of government institutions, MPs, Regional administrative secretaries, district commissioners from Iringa, Mufindi, Kilolo and Mpwapwa.

Meanwhile, WWF-Ruaha Water Program (WWF-RWP) is in the process of developing advocacy strategy for Great Ruaha Catchment and has hired a consultant to support in the process, and for the time being the consultant is collecting information from multiple stakeholders. 

WWF-RWP Community Development Officer, Makfura Evergris told The Guardian on Sunday that the one day consultative stakeholder meeting was organized in Dodoma for the purpose of discussing and getting views from targeted stakeholders and develops the first advocacy strategy document.

WWF-TZ through the Freshwater and Climate Change program implemented ‘Sustainable, Water, Access, Use and Management (SWAUM) to restore perennial flows of the Great Ruaha River.

The Rufiji Basin Water Board (RBWB) and WWF’s Ruaha Water Program (WWF RWP), with support from WWF-UK and funds from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), are working together to address this concern.

The first phase of WWF initiative ran from 2003-2010 with second phase scheduled from 2011-2016. 

The Great Ruaha River is drying up and the reduced flows in the river have been recorded since the early 1990s when complete drying of sections of the river was first observed.

Faced with the complexity of water governance – disagreements & conflicts between water users, sectors and levels of government; climate and knowledge uncertainties; limited capacity, particularly among service providers – this initiative is piloting a collective learning approach with catchment stakeholders to enable them to better address the constraints affecting water access, use and management, and ultimately to restore perennial flows in the Great Ruaha.

According to WWF findings, the river is now drying up completely for long periods – up to 6 months – in the dry seasons, causing among other things, water shortages for downstream villages, death of animals in the Ruaha National Park, increased conflict between different water users (crop farmers, pastoralists, fishing community), and water shortages at Mtera and Kidatu dams leading to serious national power cuts.

WWF Tanzania Country Office (TCO) has identified three river sub-basins as priority areas for its 5-year (2015-2020) country Strategic Plan; these are the Great Ruaha, Kilombero as well as Mara river sub-basins.

The WWF in their freshwater conservation goal said by 2020, environmental flows are restored to, or maintained at, target levels in Great Ruaha, Mara and Kilombero rivers contributing to water security for men, women and wildlife dependent on those flows.