Transcriber: anna paganini Reviewer: David DeRuwe
How many of you know
or have ever heard of a sparrow bird?
It's a small bird, very beautiful bird.
The largest in size would be 15 centimeters.
These birds are found in East Africa.
One day,
the forest caught fire - a huge fire.
It was raging.
Animals got out of the forest and stood by the edge of the forest,
overwhelmed, worried, confused.
Except for this small sparrow bird.
The sparrow bird said,
"I am going to do something about the fire."
It quickly flew into the nearest stream,
picked a drop of water,
put it on the fire,
and kept on doing that quickly, without wasting any time.
In all this time,
all animals were staring at it.
Some animals, big like elephants,
wondering what this little bird was doing.
And one animal came forward and asked the sparrow bird,
"Hey! what do you think you're doing?
Small as you are, do you think you can stop the fire?"
The sparrow bird replied,
"I am doing the best I can."
Like a raging forest in the story,
our environment is on fire!
There is evidence that,
due to huge and serious environmental degradation today,
the earth is in great danger.
United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
which is a group of experts on environmental science,
have already revealed data showing that
the earth is cracking
because of huge and massive emission of pollutants into the atmosphere
that have already affected the natural climate system.
We are now experiencing the consequences of the pollution:
flooding, heavy rains, prolonged droughts
that cause scarcity of water and food.
In Arusha recently, two or three days ago,
we experienced very sudden, you know,
blow of dusts, yeah? that covered the whole of the city.
This is what I'm talking about.
The environment is in great danger.
In Tanzania, there was a recent ban of use of plastic bags,
a recommendable step.
But there are other ways.
There are other wastes that are even, you know, more harmful than plastic bags.
Think of
broken electronics, cellphones, computers.
Where do we dump those?
Think of plastic bottles that are littered all over.
Our environment is dirty and unclean.
Studies have also revealed that most cities in Tanzania
do not have adequate sewage treatment facilities.
And that causes discharge of harmful liquid waste
into rivers, oceans, lakes.
Everybody,
do some of you know River Themi?
River Themi is in Arusha.
It cuts across the city.
Think about that river.
How is it?
Dirty? Very dirty.
Littering but encroachment as well.
People have encroached the river, making it so easy to pollute.
Industries are discharging solid waste into the river.
Think about the users of that river downstream -
very dangerous.
Our environment is on fire.
Fortunately, luckily,
some ten years ago,
Tanzania incorporated the right to clean, safe, and healthy environment into law
when it enacted Environmental Management Act.
Section 4, sub-section 1 of that law
states very clearly
that every person living in Tanzania
is entitled to live in a clean, safe, and healthy environment.
That law also allows people, powers people, to sue
when the environment is polluted,
when their surroundings are unclean,
are made unclean by another person,
by a company, by an organization.
But, to complement that, Environmental Management Act
establishes environmental management committees
at all levels of common structures.
From the sub-village level, "kitongoji,"
there is that committee,
to the village, upward, "kijiji"
ward, "kata,"
and if you are living in town street there
in "kata," district, "wilaya," you'll find this committee -
municipal, and at the city level as well.
These committees are established and are empowered
to first, investigate environmental pollution
and order the polluter to clean if they find that there is pollution
that is serious enough to implicate on the community.
The committees are also empowered to resolve conflicts
between individuals, companies, businesses
geared or coming out of environmental pollution.
Different disputes.
And lastly, most importantly,
these committees are empowered to institute cases against polluters.
To enhance the work of these committees,
the community is supposed to report
polluting acts to these committees,
even just need to locate where they are.
If you are living in town, most probably at the street level
offices (Swahili) street, (English) you'll find them there.
If you cannot find them there,
go to the ward kata, you'll find the "kamati ya mazingira,"
the Environmental Management Committee.
Report there. They will take action.
And, even if these two stages cannot look at them,
go the municipality or to the district council.
Report. They will take action.
But the law also gives us,
as individuals,
the power to institute cases,
to use court processes,
to use legal mechanisms to protect the environment.
And this is what Joseph Kessy did.
The Dar es Salaam city council
designated Tabata,
an area in Tabata community,
as a dumping site.
All the wastes collected from the city
were dumped there.
Now, Joseph Kessy and a few others
came out angry,
and they went to the High Court and requested the High Court
to order the Dar es Salaam city council to stop the dumping
because that was endangering the community's life.
And the court,
out of the reason that - unclean environment endangers life,
ordered the city council
to stop dumping solid wastes at Tabata community
because that community was also designated as a residential area.
See?
It took Joseph Kessy's action
to make the community clean.
And after that case,
a few cases also followed against the city council
because of that.
So the law is presenting to us an opportunity,
okay, for us to take on and use.
The example I have given of Themi River -
Why is it dirty? What is our role?
Apart from picking up the trash you see around.
Apart from designing, you know, deciding that you come up
with a day in the week
where as a community you clean up the trash around.
Apart from that,
how do you use these legal processes to protect our environment,
in order for us to enjoy that right to a clean and healthy environment?
Remember the story of the sparrow bird?
The sparrow bird, small as it is,
took action.
Immediately.
It didn't sit back and say, "I didn't cause the fire!
I'm not responsible, I didn't cause the fire"
It took action.
And later on persuaded, regardless of the discouragement,
persuaded other animals to join the force!
And they successfully stopped the fire.
So, be the sparrow bird.
Joseph Kessy was a sparrow bird.
Take action.
It can start with one person,
and joined by a few in the community,
and their action may serve the community.
If you discover, if you think that -
this industry is polluting the river
that may cause harm to people down the stream,
don't be quiet.
Report or join forces with a few people in the community,
gather evidence,
go to environmental lawyers in town,
we'll deal with that as well.
I'm a lawyer.
Institute a case!
Let us embrace the opportunity that the law presents to us.
Let us all be sparrow bird, sparrow birds.
I am a sparrow bird.
Individual actions,
okay, when put together collectively may make a huge difference.
Don't sit back. Take action.
Be a sparrow bird in your community,
wherever you are.
Thank you.
(Applause)