Fragile Ties: Unravelling the Interplay of Climate Change and Human Rights in Tanzania

By Yohan Lee, Art in Tanzania intern

Tanzania, a country of remarkable landscapes, diverse ecosystems, and vibrant wildlife, struggles with a climate crisis and its negative influence on human rights. Tanzania faces a range of pressing environmental challenges that threaten its delicate balance and the well-being of its people. Tanzania’s continuously rising temperature and erratic weather patterns shed light on the detrimental ecological transformation and the unsolved problem: mistreating human rights.

Unmasking the Climate Crisis: Tanzania’s Battle for the ecological challenge

Climate change is one of the issues that has been prevalent worldwide. The majority of countries have been concerned about the ongoing change in climate conditions and challenging altogether against the unsolved problem.

Climate change does not affect everyone equally; developing countries, advanced nations, the impoverished rather than the affluent, and socially vulnerable groups such as women, children, and youth suffer more significant impacts. Tanzania is no exception to this worldwide issue. As a developing country, the whole nation is grappling with drought, while over 80% of the population relies on agriculture for their livelihood. Typically, November should have been the month of rain, but it still didn’t rain when November was almost over.

Unfortunately, this dire situation leads to several detrimental issues, bringing chaos to Tanzanian society. No rain means no water, no water means no farming, and no farming means no money. Since over 80% of people in Tanzania have been maintaining their life by farming and selling crops, droughts caused by climate change are nothing short of a severed lifeline.

Climate Change: Unveiling the Silent Crisis of Human Rights

The bottom line is that this unprecedented issue has brought another problem to human rights for Tanzanians. Young children and even teenagers, who are supposed to be in schools, are fetching water from a river which is 2~3 kilometres far away from their house. Likewise, Tanzanian children dedicate themselves every day without a break. Then, why do they have to do this every day?

Since the water and food shortage inflicts pain on numerous households in Tanzania, young workers must enter the economic workforce early and provide water for their families, taking care of them. In addition, on the way back to their home after fetching water, children often face venomous snakes or hyenas that can potentially kill humans.

As drought persists, the number of empty school desks is increasing continuously. According to a 15-year-old Tanzania girl named Shania Shabani Ramadhani, some households resort to sending their children to work in aluminium mines. In contrast, others marry off young girls to men in their forties for a fee. She said she had seen many friends becoming pregnant and disappearing from school. The international humanitarian organization “Save the Children” statistically proved that about one-third of children worldwide are exposed simultaneously to poverty and climate crisis.

The Global Responsibility: Empowering Tanzanian Children for a Better Future

For Tanzanian children going through the most challenging time, many nonprofit organizations are aiding those children by investing in and protecting them.

The global nonprofit organization “Art in Tanzania”, has been working as a nonprofit organization, aiding Tanzanian children for almost 30 years. “Art in Tanzania” strengthens Tanzanian communities, encourages sustainable growth, and raises awareness about human rights, environmental sustainability.

Likewise, another nonprofit organization, “GlobalGiving”, manages a considerable funding platform to permanently lift poor people, including Tanzanians, out of poverty.