Tanzanian Vice President Announces Ban on Plastic Bags and Other Environmental Measures

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Tanzania's government has banned plastic bags and containers, ordered people to stop farming and logging on Africa's highest mountain, among other environmental measures, the vice president said.

ARUSHA, Tanzania — Tanzania's government has banned plastic bags and containers, ordered people to stop farming and logging on Africa's highest mountain, among other environmental measures, the vice president said.


The government's ban on the importation, manufacture and sale of plastic bags, plastic drinking water and juice containers will take effect in October so that manufacturers and importers have time to find alternatives, said Vice President Ali Mohamed Shein late Saturday on state-owned television.


"The ban of plastic bags and containers is necessary to protect our rapid degrading environment," said Shein.


It is not clear how effective the ban will be because Tanzanian environmental authorities are going to have to rely on the country's inefficient local government authorities to enforce the measures.


Shein said the government had also ordered farmers and people logging trees on Mt. Kilimanjaro to leave the mountain within two months.


He said that 91,300 hectares (225,000 acres) of trees are lost every year through indiscriminate tree felling.


Scientists have warned that Mt. Kilimanjaro's glaciers may disappear by 2020 because of environmental degradation.


The government also wants Burundian, Ugandan and Rwandan livestock herders to stop using water and pasture in northwestern Tanzanian as they have done in the past because of either conflict or drought in their home countries, Shein said.


The government's action follows the east African country's prolonged drought because of failed rains that have forced the country to introduced power rationing.


Tanzania has experienced food shortages, especially in its northern parts, because of the drought.


Source: Associated Press


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