Tanzania, UNHCR to launch reforestation program in regions hosting refugees

Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), August 28: Tanzania and the UN refugee agency are in negotiations to launch a reforestation program in refugee-hosting regions of Kigoma and Kagera, the UN refugee agency chief said on Friday evening.
Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said on Friday he held talks with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan on the launch of the reforestation program.
The influx of refugees from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has caused deforestation for firewood and building shelters around refugee camps in Kigoma and Kagera regions.
"The felling of trees is impactful to mankind," Grandi told a news conference in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
Grandi said partners of the UN refugee agency, including the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), will be involved in the execution of the program.
Grandi, who was on a four-day official visit to Tanzania, said the reforestation program will go in tandem with the provision of alternative sources of energy to the refugees.
On Thursday, Grandi spent time with Congolese and Burundian refugees in Nyarugusu refugee camp in the Kigoma region where he handed over birth certificates to refugee babies which he said were important for their identification.
He said he also inspected a housing program for the refugees and gardening activities ran by the refugees to supplement their food rations.
Grandi thanked the government of Tanzania for its continued hospitality in sheltering refugees and pledged to strengthen support to the government, improve protection and assistance to refugees, and find solutions to their plight.
He said that currently there are 250,000 refugees hosted in Tanzania, mostly Congolese and Burundians.
Source: Xinhua