Environmental journalists have been challenged to move beyond reporting environmental problems and investigate why some of the country’s most persistent challenges continue despite years of public concern.
The call was made in Dodoma on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, as the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition (THRDC), in partnership with the Media Aid for Indigenous and Pastoralist Community (MAIPAC), began a training programme aimed at strengthening environmental journalism.
The training, supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), brings together 35 journalists from Dodoma, Singida, Mbeya, Morogoro and Iringa.
THRDC National Coordinator Onesmo Ole Ngurumwa said environmental reporting should go beyond identifying problems and examine their causes, those responsible and the effectiveness of measures taken to address them.
He cited poor waste management, destruction of forests and water sources, and investments that fail to adequately consider environmental impacts as some of the issues requiring stronger investigative reporting.
“There are many environmental challenges in the country that are reported but fail to generate meaningful results,” Mr Ngurumwa said.
He used the waste problem in Dar es Salaam to illustrate the scale of the challenge facing environmental reporting.
“President Samia said Dar es Salaam is dirty. I would say it smells because waste has spread to almost every corner,” he said.
The remarks underline a wider concern that environmental problems can become normalised when reporting focuses on individual incidents rather than examining the systems, decisions and enforcement gaps that allow them to persist.
MAIPAC Director Mussa Juma said the effects of environmental degradation and climate change were increasingly being felt by communities through floods, drought and disruption of livelihoods.
He said journalists had a responsibility to use their platforms to explain the causes and consequences of such problems while highlighting practical solutions.
“Through this project, go and produce investigative stories, identify environmental challenges and explain solutions and innovations that can help communities,” Mr Juma said.
He said climate change was also affecting food security and contributing to conflicts between people and wildlife, making sustained public-interest reporting necessary.
THRDC Head of Advocacy Paul Kisabo told journalists that knowledge of environmental laws was essential for effective reporting and accountability.
He took participants through national and international legal frameworks governing environmental protection and conservation, urging journalists to investigate environmental issues without fear.
Mr Kisabo said journalists should understand the legal responsibilities of institutions as well as the rights of communities affected by environmental degradation.
The training is part of a wider THRDC-MAIPAC project aimed at strengthening environmental journalism and enabling reporters to contribute to environmental accountability, public awareness, human rights protection and sustainable environmental governance.
Similar training has already been conducted for 35 journalists from the Northern Zone and another 35 from the Lake Zone.
The organisers said the programme is intended to equip journalists with the skills to produce more investigative, evidence-based and solution-oriented environmental stories that can inform communities and strengthen accountability.