NEMC To Rehabilitate Degraded Areas In Singida Region

 

By VALENTINE OFORO

THE National Environment Management Council (NEMC) has embarked on a project to rehabilitate areas that have been degraded by unfriendly mining activities in Singida Region. 

The robust initiative, being executed through the Environmental Health and Pollution Management Project (EHPMP) covers the villages of Mlumbi in the Mang’onyi ward, Ikungi district of Singida region.

The project’s involving area will be used as a potential stickyard, a lesson location, to help educating small-scale gold miners in the region over the importance of rehabilitating areas that are abandoned after gold mining activities. 

Speaking on behalf of the state-owned Council, NEMC Senior Environment Officer Paul Kalokola expressed that the project is part of efforts to empower the small-scale gold miners over the important, but also how professional to rehabilitate and conserve the mining areas after completing extractions.

He added that the project, EHPMP, entails a number of activities towards empowering the small-scale gold miners, especially in the side of minimising the use of mercury in refining gold.

"This initiative among others, focuses to fulfill the requirement of the World Bank (WB), the funder of the EHPMP project," he unveiled. 

And he expressed that the other WB set requirements is community involvement in the general decision and works for the rehabilitation of the areas in question. 

"Rehabilitation of the areas that have been destroyed by mining activities is also in accord to the environment management law of 2024, which directs the larger and small-scale miners to rehabilitate their mining areas after done with minerals extractions in order to avert possible environmental effects towards the surrounding communities, " he detailed. 

The environmental officer observed that after finalizing with the rehabilitation works, the area will be planted various trees, the exercise which will be executed in cooperation with the Tanzanian Forest Services (TFS).

The Engineer for Ikungi district, Edward Milinga, in his side hailed NEMC and the Tanzania Mining Commission for implementing the helpful- environmental initiative in the area, spoke over the need for further efforts to educate the minors on the important to determine from environmental degradation. 

Chairperson for Mlumbi Village, Issa Hamis, on his part the government for realising the need to revitalize the environmental nature of the area.

The rehabilitation of the Mlumbi area is part of the implementation of the Environmental Health and Pollution Management Project (EHPMP) which is funded by the World Bank (WB).

In Tanzania, the timely project is  implemented in the seven regions of Geita, Shinyanga, Singida, Mwanza, Mara, Mbeya and Songwe with the aim of reducing the use of mercury through introducing environmental friendly gold mining technologies towards the small scale miners.