Tanzania pays a price for climate change

Lucas Liganga in AllAfrica.com via the Citizen (Dar es Salaam): Recent extreme weather conditions, including droughts and floods in Tanzania are thought to be costing the country an equivalent of 1 to 2 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), which is equal to about half of what the government plans to spend on primary education this year.

An official with the British government's Department for International Development, Mr Marshall Elliot, said yesterday in Dar es Salaam that the droughts and floods were being caused by climate change.For example, he said, 7.96 million people in Tanzania were affected by six droughts that occurred from 1980 to 2008. "These people are the least responsible for climate change."

He was speaking at a climate change witnesses event jointly organised by the Tanzania Natural Resource Forum (TNRF) and the Tanzania Civil Society Forum on Climate Change (ForumCC) and supported by the British government.

"As we look to the future, it is clear that climate change will increasingly hit poor people the hardest," said Mr Elliot, adding: "The impact of climate change has potential to roll back development gains." He said future climate change was likely to affect GDP to as much as 2 per cent annually by the year 2030....