Dar es Salaam. Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on Wednesday, July 27, 2022.
Dar loses 10pc of its trees a year, with only 0.1pc designated as a park
Deputy Permanent Secretary in the President’s Office – Regional Administration and Local Government Dr Charles Msonde on Wednesday emphasized the need for planting more trees in Dar es Salaam in an attempt to make the city climate resilient for the benefit of its dwellers.
Dr Msonde was speaking during the Greening Infrastructure for the Future of Dar es Salaam Workshop, a two-day function jointly organised by the government and the Word Bank to explore how infrastructure and development can be adapted to help mitigate the impacts of climate change.
In his official opening remarks, Dr Msonde named Dar es Salaam as an example of a city known for its rapid and unplanned growth, something he said has led to the loss of open space and urban vegetation.
“The city loses around 10 per cent of its tree’s a year, and just two per cent of its total area is designated as public green space, with only 0.1 per cent designated as a park,” Dr Msonde said during the workshop. “In the city’s core, there are fewer and fewer public spaces and green spaces that are mostly built of hard surfaces without any vegetation or tree canopy.”
The urban heat island effect and severe urban heat stress are being exacerbated by Dar es Salaam’s changing landscape, Dr Msonde explained.
“From the heart of the city to the outer outskirts, the mean daily surface temperature ranges by 3.60C,” he said. “Climate predictions for Dar es Salaam indicate that by 2040, the city will see more than the current 36 very hot days (above 34.6°C) and 100–200 very hot nights (above 24.5°C) annually.”
Full story here.
African Islamic banking summit kicks off in Dar
African Islamic Banking and Takaful Summit kicked off in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday with stakeholders of the alternative financial system from across the African continent as well as the Middle East participating.
Jointly organised by the AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE) and the Centre for Islamic Finance, Compliance and Advice, the summit will be followed by two-day post-event workshops on ‘Practical and Operational Aspects of Takaful’ to be held on July 27 and July 28, 2022, in the city.
Inaugurating the summit, CIBE CEO Muhammad Zubair Mughal said that Africa is emerging for Islamic Finance, increasingly becoming the new destination for Islamic Financial Institutions that he hopes will open new avenues for foreign direct investments.
“Tanzanian Islamic Banking and Takaful market is very imminent and seems promising,” said Mughal in his inaugural speech.
According to the Tanzania Invest website, Tanzania currently has one fully-fledged Islamic bank, Amana Bank, which primarily offers Shariah-compliant financial products. The bank started its operations in 2011.
Apart from Amana Bank, a few other commercial banks have started offering Islamic financial services in Tanzania. These include Azania Bank, CRDB, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), National Bank of Commerce (NBC) and the People’s Bank of Zanzibar (PBZ).
Mughal explained that Islamic banking and finance is the ultimate financial solution due to its viability and sustainability.
“This system has multi-fold benefits which concentrate on the balanced wealth distribution,” he told the summit’s participants. “He also threw light on the need for Islamic banking and financial services.”
Will Smith is on a mission to help travellers explore West Tanzania
American actor Will Smith is on a mission to lead travellers on expedition-like itineraries through the few remaining uncharted regions of West Tanzania, including Burigi-Chato National Park and beyond, Travel Daily News reported Wednesday.
Launched on July 11, 2019, by the late President John Magufuli, Burigi-Chato National Park is located between Geita and Kagera regions and is considered among Africa’s newest national parks.
Through Deeper Adventure, a partnership between Wil Smith and Aminiel Nnko, a world-renowned wildlife guide from Tanzania, the two expect to preserve Africa’s wildlife, lands, and popular tourist destinations.
“There is a pressing need to encourage visitation to lands less travelled because the better-known safari parks are at risk of overcrowding,” Travel Daily News quoted Smith as saying. “Burigi-Chato National Park is a new creation that will appeal to adventurous travellers with a passion for exploration while taking pressure off the beaten paths. This is an opportune space to experience the authentically unexplored.”
Smith said that as a new park, Burigi’s long-term viability depends on its ability to attract visitors, with park fees expected to fund maintenance and conservation needs.
“The tourism purchase of goods and services will garner support from surrounding communities by providing jobs and adding value to local businesses,” Smith was quoted as saying. “By choosing Burigi over a more travelled destination, a traveller will add a meaningful contribution to wilderness conservation and wildlife preservation.”
Stretching from Lake Victoria in the East to the Rwandan boundary in the West, Burigi-Chato is an enormous piece of the wild country encompassing freshwater lakes, deeply set valleys lined with forest, open plains, swamps, rivers, flood plains, and hundreds of square kilometres of medium and tall grass wooded savanna.
The wildlife population includes big cats, elephants, plains antelopes, zebras, giraffes, and tropical birds.
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