Environmental crimes remain major challenge for Tanzania

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Inspector of Police (IGP) Ernest Mangu

 The government has admitted that environmental crimes have remained a major challenge in the country despite using more resources compared to the outcome.

 

Speaking during the inauguration of a Multi Agency Task Team (MATT) in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, Inspector of Police (IGP) Ernest Mangu said there is a need to put in place various institutional and legal frameworks for the same and all responsible parties to perform better.

 

MATT is a network   aimed that addresses organised environmental crime. It includes that committed in various categories of fishing like illegal unreported  fishing and blast fishing. Others are illegal mining as well as smuggling of wildlife and timber.

 

The initiative is supported by the Indian Ocean Commission’s SmartFish Programme implemented jointly with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and funded by the EU

He said despite government efforts and donor support, the country has failed to achieve substantial results.

 

“Due to the size of our country, the management and protection of these natural resources poses a big challenge,” he said.

 

According to Mangu, in recent years there has been a sharp growth of environmental crimes in the country. They have ranged from illegal fishing, wildlife poaching, illegal mining and illegal harvesting to smuggling of forest products. 

 

He said that unsatisfactory outcome of such a war is partly attributed to lack of coordination among the concerned parties.

 

He named them as government ministries, institutions and independent departments dealing with environmental crimes. These also protect natural resources and have been working independently or alone, he said.

 

However, Mangu said the government was committed to put all this to an end as it will work with donors and development partners in making MATT successful.

 

It will thus put to an end the environmental crimes for the benefit of the country’s resources, sustainable livelihood, world biodiversity and, more important, the security of the nation, he said.

 

In his address, Home Affairs minister Mathias Chikawe said: “It is international best practice to establish MATT which aims at coordinating efforts and resources to combat environmental crime and protect our natural resources.”

 

He said the government was committed to eradicating the bad practice and has conducted successful operations since 2013.

 

In his address, the European Union (EU) Ambassador, Filiberto Sebregondi, said the EU was proud to have contributed to such a major milestone. Presently it supported the regional flagship programme, IOC-SmartFish.

 

He said “I wish to commend Tanzania for taking this important step towards a whole of government approach to tackling environmental crime and would like to encourage it to maintain the momentum with law enforcement action in line with international best practice.”

 

The IOC-SmartFish Key Expert, Marcel Kroese, said they had been working to combat illegal fishing in East Africa over the past four years.

 

“However, the problem of blast fishing is far more complex than previously expected in Tanzania. The practice is outlawed in all countries in the world,” he said.