By, John Kabambala
The First Tanzania Climate and Environmental Justice Forum was held in Dodoma under the coordination of Thubutu Africa Initiatives in collaboration with stakeholders such as AGUT Forum, IDEN Africa, and CONAMET. The meeting brought together government leaders, civil society organizations, university students from universities such as UDOM, and communities of farmers and pastoralists from the regions of Dodoma, Shinyanga, Singida, Mwanza, and Dar es Salaam. The main objective was to bring together various stakeholders to listen to the voices of marginalized communities, learn, and build working partnerships. Through this forum, a foundation was laid for taking action that will help address climate challenges and protect the environment in the country.
The question is: To what extent can the establishment of the Climate Justice Forum Tanzania be an important step in strengthening citizens’ participation in discussions and decisions concerning climate change?
This meeting answered this question: The establishment of the Tanzania Climate and Environmental Justice Forum is a major and important step that enables citizens to become part of decisions that affect the environment and the future of their lives. The forum provides an opportunity to listen to the voices of marginalized communities such as farmers, pastoralists, women, children, youth, and people with special needs, who are among those most affected by changes in weather patterns. Through these participatory mechanisms, climate discussions are conducted by bringing forward real evidence of citizens’ challenges in order to create sustainable solutions rather than preparing plans without involving those directly affected. The forum also strengthens citizens’ participation by serving as a policy bridge between communities and government in the planning and implementation of decisions.
Speakers noted that climate change is not a matter of the future but a daily reality causing prolonged droughts, floods, declining crop production, and livestock deaths. These impacts affect the lives of every Tanzanian and increase economic, health, and food-security challenges. However, groups living in vulnerable conditions such as smallholder farmers, pastoralists, children, women, and youth are the most affected. The meeting discussed the concept of climate justice, explaining that those who contribute the least to carbon emissions bear the greatest burden of the impacts. Therefore, “efforts to address these changes must be participatory, inclusive, and respectful of human rights and gender equality.”
This is because climate impacts are not limited to the environment, but affect livelihoods, income, health, agriculture, livestock, water, housing, and development opportunities. For a country like Tanzania, with many communities dependent on agriculture, livestock, fishing, and natural resources, the climate debate needs to reach the people who are on the front line of dealing with these impacts. Thus, a climate justice forum can serve as a bridge between communities, researchers, civil society organizations, youth, children, women, the private sector, and policymakers, so that citizens’ experiences do not remain outside national and international discussions.
Another importance of establishing such a forum:
It is to connect scattered voices. Tanzania has various organizations and networks working on the environment, climate, gender, youth, climate finance, and community rights, but a broad forum can help bring together that knowledge and strength into an agenda involving many stakeholders. A practical example is the Pan African Climate JusticeAlliance (PACJA), which, according to its 2026-2030 strategic plan, has more than 2,000 organizations in 54 African countries and 54 national platforms. This structure demonstrates the importance of having a network that can connect community challenges with policy discussions at national, regional, and international levels.
A climate justice forum is also highly important in ensuring that communities are heard when climate policies and projects are developed. Climate discussions can often appear to be matters for experts, international meetings, and policy documents, while their impacts occur in communities, villages, farms, pastoralist areas, beaches, and cities. The example of the ClimateJustice Coalition in South Africa shows how this coalition has been able to bring together trade unions, community organizations, and NGOs in activities involving education, research, campaigns, advocacy, and even legal action. The forum has continued community activities and campaigns in 2026, demonstrating the importance of building a system that operates throughout the year rather than relying only on launch meetings.
In seeking sustainable environmental solutions, the forum proposed implementation of the National Clean Cooking Energy Strategy 2024-2034, which aims to increase the use of LPG gas, electricity, and environmentally friendly renewable energy. This step aims to protect environmental reserves, community health, and the safety of women and children in the country. Participants also emphasized the importance of investing in climate-resilient agriculture, restoring and protecting all water sources, planting trees, and building strong early-warning systems. The meeting stressed the need to promote domestic philanthropy rather than relying solely on external aid, to ensure that African communities fully participate in creating, investing in, and owning local social and economic solutions in the country.
What is the importance of the media in a forum like this?
The media have an important role in ensuring that discussions, resolutions, and agendas discussed in a forum such as this reach citizens within and beyond Tanzania’s borders. In doing so, the public can understand the steps being taken in the country to address various challenges, while such information can attract different people and institutions to provide cooperation, contributions, or other forms of support. Therefore, it is important for a forum such as this to involve the media from the beginning by selecting representatives from television, newspapers, radio, and online media, so that every sector is represented and it becomes easier to push the agendas discussed to the wider community. Such involvement will also help in planning agendas according to the best ways of delivering them to the intended audiences and ensuring that the outcomes of these forums do not remain inside the meeting hall, but continue to be heard, discussed, and acted upon by the wider community through simple methods.
Therefore, a climate justice forum can provide young people with opportunities to learn about policy, research, climate finance, innovation, and environmental advocacy. The experience of the African Climate Alliance in South Africa shows how youth-led movements can connect education, advocacy, community mobilisation, and youth participation in policy discussions. In Tanzania, such a system could help young people from urban and rural areas become participants in decision-making rather than spectators of climate discussions in the media and on social media.
Women also need to be a fundamental part of this system because climate justice is closely connected to gender equality. In many communities, women are closely involved in accessing water, food, household energy, agriculture, and caregiving, meaning climate change can increase their daily burden. An interesting example is the Africa Climate Justice Movement (ACJM), which has built a system targeting women and women-led organizations through grants, capacity building, policy advocacy, and community-led solutions. ACJM provides figures on its members, grants, and people reached. For Tanzania, this experience could help build a forum in which women are not ordinary participants, but part of leadership and implementation.
The forum can also be important in strengthening accountability and monitoring of climate finance. Tanzania, like other African countries, needs substantial resources to address climate impacts, but it is not only a question of the amount of money; it is also important to know where the money comes from, where it is directed, who manages it, and whether it reaches the communities that need it most. This is where a forum bringing together researchers, journalists, civil society organizations, and financial experts can play an important role. Instead of waiting for reports after a project is completed, it can establish a Climate Finance Observatory that collects information, analyzes projects, and presents findings to citizens in simple language.
Meeting Resolutions:
Ms. Imaculate Komba presented the resolutions of the meeting, the first of which was: 1. It is important for Tanzania to begin seeking and strengthening domestic sources of finance to address the challenges of climate change, rather than relying heavily on funds from abroad. She explained that the availability of adequate resources is an important foundation for implementing measures to address climate impacts effectively and in accordance with community needs.
2. In the agriculture sector, the use of improved, resilient indigenous seeds, while emphasizing the importance of continuing research on indigenous seeds so that they can be used to address climate change. In addition, the use of irrigation systems to reduce dependence on rainfall, together with strengthening the mix of energy sources (energy mix) to address challenges arising from climate change.
3. Regarding participation, the importance of having sectoral discussions focused on practical implementation rather than discussions alone. The meeting proposed that target groups be fully involved in future forums so that they can provide their experiences and perspectives on the challenges they face, including the importance of assessing the effects of climate change on mental health, an area that can affect people’s lives and well-being.
4. Adding value to agricultural products instead of selling raw products, a step that can increase economic benefits for producers. For pastoralists, the meeting proposed increasing grazing areas in order to reduce conflicts that arise between farmers and pastoralists.
5. In addition, communities and various stakeholders should take steps to protect the environment by reducing tree cutting and promoting the use of improved and more efficient cookstoves. This includes the importance of harvesting and protecting water sources, preventing illegal fishing, planting and maintaining trees, and strengthening cooperation between the Government, stakeholders, and communities in environmental conservation efforts.
6. The importance of conducting continuous research on various environmental events in order to gain a broad understanding of their causes, impacts, and the best ways to respond, including the collection of data on climate change. Among these events is Bwawa la Matope in Shinyanga Region, which she identified as one of the areas requiring continuous research and monitoring. From this perspective, the resolutions aimed to bring together the efforts of the Government, experts, stakeholders, and communities to build capacity to address climate change and protect environmental resources.
Mr. Jonathan Kifunda is a representative of the Thubutu Africa Initiative and a leader within the secretariat that coordinated the Climate Justice and Climate Change Forum. During the forum, he led the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among various organizations and thanked the participants for serving as environmental ambassadors. He stated that the secretariat’s doors remain open to new stakeholders with innovative ideas and a willingness to collaborate. Additionally, he tasked the government representative, Mr. Msangi, with conveying greetings and the community's voice to national leaders as well as to the global Climate Change Summit (COP).
However, the meeting was accompanied by the signing of agreements and institutional partnership: an exercise to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to advance the forum, and the institutions that participated in the exercise included Thubutu Africa Initiative, AgriYouthForum, Sibu Digital Hub, IDN Africa, Mama Africa, Youth and Women Emancipation (YAWE), Call for Equality and Co, GUID, TETI, Conament, and Mtu na Mti.
Mr. Msangi agreed to convey the forum's greetings to the Regional Commissioner of Dodoma, noting that the leader is a dedicated advocate who strongly supports environmental and forest conservation. He invited the secretariat to reach out to the Regional Commissioner at his office with constructive environmental ideas, while promising that next year they will officially invite him to tour the innovation booths alongside expanding media coverage. Regarding the global COP summit, he emphasized the potential to secure delegates so that the forum’s voice and resolutions extend beyond the borders of Tanzania. Furthermore, he promised to brief the Regional Commissioner on these resolutions upon returning to the office, encouraging the secretariat to finalize and properly structure their resolutions for formal presentation, confident that diverse stakeholders will step forward to actively support and contribute to these crucial environmental conservation agendas.
This is the author's perspective on this article.
“Finally, the experience of African forums shows that strong climate justice requires turning knowledge into action. PACJA connects organizations at continental level, the Climate Justice Coalition connects communities, workers, and organizations in advocacy and campaigns, ACJM places women and grassroots organizations at the center of climate justice action, while other forums use law, research, and policy to strengthen accountability. For Tanzania, the Climate Justice Forum can use these examples to build a system with pillars for youth, women, communities, research, policy, climate finance, legal institutions, and human and environmental rights defenders such as THRDC, together with the media. By doing so, the forum can become more than a name or a launch event; it can become a permanent platform connecting evidence, community voices, and climate decisions, while strengthening Tanzania’s ability to participate fully in the broader climate justice debate in Africa.”
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