The Muslim News

Dar Es Salaam, (Daily News):

TANZANIA's population will reach 109.5 million in 2050, leading to increased pressure on available resources, according to the latest State of World Population Report launched in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

The country's current population is estimated at around 40 million.

The projected 2050 population is based on an average growth of 2.9 per cent between 2005 and 2010, according to demographic, social and economic indicators cited in the report.

The Minister of State in the Vice-President's Office (Environment), Dr Batilda Burian, launched the report, which indicates that the Eastern Africa region population growth would reach 318 .8 million during the same period.

With global population projected to reach 8 billion by 2050, the report predicts an increase in resource consumption and further financial obligation to adapt to the changes.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) country Representative, Dr Julitta Onabanjo, noted on her welcome statement that climate change must take into account the human and gender dimensions of every aspect of the problem.

Dr Onabanjo warned that international climate-change agreements and national policies were more likely to succeed in the long run if they took into account population dynamics, gender, women's well-being and access to services.

From 1850 to 2002, developed countries accounted for an estimated 76 per cent of cumulative carbon-dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel combustion, while developing world accounted for 24 per cent according to the World Resources Institute.

"...climate change is more than an issue of energy efficiency or industrial carbon emissions; it is also an issue of population dynamics, poverty and gender equity," UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid noted in the foreword to the report.

Dr Burian underscored the importance of including women and children issues in addressing effects of climatic change if the efforts are to pay off.

The minister said women and children were the most vulnerable groups by effects of climate change and their concerns must therefore be taken aboard.

In Tanzania, she said, efforts were being made to take aboard women's issues in measures to mitigate climate change to ensure that socio-economic gains were not eroded by changes.

To address the situation, Dr Burian said the government was reviewing National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (MKUKUTA) and the Zanzibar Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (MKUZA) to incorporate gender dimensions to climate change.

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