The negative consequences of the ongoing global crises of this time - climate change and loss of biodiversity - are also becoming increasingly apparent in Tanzania. In large parts of the East African country environmental conditions are still favorable for productive agriculture and there are still relatively large areas of intact ecosystems, including forests, savannahs, wetlands, lakes and rivers, Even two of the world's 36 biodiversity hotspots are found in Tanzania (Eastern Afromontane & Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa). However, land use intensity and land consumption are rapidly increasing in both urban and rural areas, with particularly negative effects on forest ecosystems. Between 2001 and 2022 Tanzania lost 30.200 km² (11 %) of its tree cover. At the same time, as a result of climate change, the region is experiencing a reduction in water availability (rising temperatures accompanied by little change in annual rainfall), reduced predictability of seasonal changes between rainy and dry seasons, and an increasing incidence of extreme weather events (droughts, heavy rains, storms). All of this leads to ecosystem degradation, loss of biodiversity, and a decline in essential ecosystem services. As a consequence, significant impacts on agricultural production as well as on other land use activities to secure livelihoods in the affected regions are to be expected.
The project PRO-NDC-ACT ("Promotion of Participatory Processes for the Implementation of NDC through Nature-Based Solutions in Urban, Rural and Coastal Landscapes of Tanzania") of the Chair of Ecological Economics aims at developing and implementing nature-based solutions with the participation of the affected village communities to address the problems mentioned above. In concrete terms, it is planned to reforest deforested areas and to develop them in an ecologically sustainable manner, taking into account the utilization needs of the local population. In this way, greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced, the risks resulting from climate change minimized and ecosystem services promoted.
