Tanzania’s Zanzibar authorities plan to plant 700 hectares of mangroves to prevent coastal erosion as part of efforts to mitigate climate change, an official said on Sunday.
Mwita Mangora, the consultant coordinator for the project, said coastal erosion has hugely affected the western areas of the Indian Ocean coastal line on the Zanzibar archipelago and planting the mangroves will help prevent the expanding coastal erosion caused by rising seawater.
“The project is also intended to prevent rising seawater caused by climate change from spreading to residential and farming areas,” said Mangora.
Hamad Omar Bakari, the Wete district commissioner on Pemba Island, said rising seawater had forced some residents to vacate their residential areas along the coast, saying that the most affected areas include Mtambwe and Panza Islets on Pemba Island.
