LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY INCREASES DEFORESTATION AT PUGU FOREST.

Lack of accountability and non-incorporated governance at Kisalawe district lead to severe deforestation at Pugu forest. The current situation is more caused by sand miners who are highly engaging in wearing out pieces of stones and sell them so as to acquire money as part of their livelihood.

What we expert our government to do is to have sustainable development strategies and involving all it citizens to implement those strategies. But the situation that happens at Pugu forest create questions into mind that does the government consider the need to protect and conserve natural resources for current sustainable use and future generation as well?

Following the soil degradation that is happening in Pugu, historically in 1990s the area was having densely forests. Unfortunately the government itself was the one that initiated the digging of the sand to repair roads where excavators were imported to do the activity. But after the same came at the end, no rehabilitation done to area.

Rehabilitation could be one of the better solutions to avoid going on degradation. This could be done by living an area take vegetation cover and introducing planting trees campaign.

Also lack or narrow education on environmental issues and forest prospective, due to poor governance on equal participation of stakeholders at Kisalawe district so as to take revenant measures to rescue the area. Equal participation insures understanding on every stakeholder role to protect the area. Hence education can be a better tool for creating awareness to all stakeholders around the Kisalawe district, and mostly to sand minors.

Awareness creation makes a stakeholder to understand the sustainable use of the resources which is out of deforestation and soil degradation rather than usefulness that does not harm environment/forest like cutting firewood at law rate and replacing/planting other trees at high rate.

Hereby I suggest that the government should take appropriate measures to rescue the Pugu forest out from ongoing degradation. Through educating those sand miners on the importance of preserving that area. Also other stakeholders should be integrated to participate on serving the area like CSOs/NGOs for instance Vijana Vision Tanzania (VVT) which is found within Kisalawe District.

Angelus Runji
runjifred@yahoo.com