Tanzania Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

water pollution; improper management of liquid waste; indoor air pollution caused by the burning of fuel wood or charcoal for cooking and heating is a large environmental health issue; soil degradation; deforestation; desertification; destruction of coral reefs threatens marine habitats; wildlife threatened by illegal hunting and trade, especially for ivory; loss of biodiversity; solid waste disposal

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Climate

varies from tropical along coast to temperate in highlands

Land use

agricultural land: 43.7% (2018 est.)

arable land: 14.3% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 2.3% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 27.1% (2018 est.)

forest: 37.3% (2018 est.)

other: 19% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 37.4% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 4.89% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Food insecurity

severe localized food insecurity:due to localized shortfalls in staple food production - about 592,000 people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance between May and September 2022, mainly located in northeastern regions, reflecting crop losses during the October–December “Vuli” 2021 and March–May “Masika” 2022 seasons due to poor rains; high food prices are also constraining households’ economic access to food (2022)

Revenue from forest resources

2.19% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0.02% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 15.36 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 11.97 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 59.08 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 9,276,995 tons (2012 est.)

Major lakes (area sq km)

fresh water lake(s): Lake Victoria (shared with Uganda and Kenya) - 62,940 sq km; Lake Tanganyika (shared with Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Zambia) - 32,000 sq km; Lake Malawi (shared with Mozambique and Malawi) - 22,490

salt water lake(s): Lake Rukwa - 5,760 sq km

Major rivers (by length in km)

Nile (shared with Rwanda [s], Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt [m]) - 6,650 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Atlantic Ocean drainage: Congo (3,730,881 sq km), (Mediterranean Sea) Nile (3,254,853 sq km)
Indian Ocean drainage: Zambezi (1,332,412 sq km)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 530 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 30 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 4.63 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

96.3 billion cubic meters (2019 est.)

Geoparks

total global geoparks and regional networks: 1

global geoparks and regional networks: Ngorongoro Lengai (2023)