Taka Taka

A fragile ecosystem responding to the challenges of globalisation

Zanzibar is one of the world’s most renowned tourist destinations.
With its beaches as white as the triangular sails of the dhow — the traditional local boats — its turquoise waters and vast mangrove forests, Zanzibar is often imagined by much of the world as a paradise where one can forget oneself for a few days. Yet on Unguja, the largest and most populated island of the archipelago, some of the most pressing challenges of our time are unfolding. Climate change and plastic pollution are transforming not only the environment but also the local economy.

The rising temperature of the Indian Ocean, for instance, is causing a rapid decline in one of the main sources of livelihood for the island’s women: seaweed farming. The rising tides, increasing irregularity of rainfall, growing frequency of extreme events such as droughts, floods and storms, coastal erosion and the loss of entire ecosystems are making life on the island ever more vulnerable.

Moreover, despite the 2019 Tanzanian government ban on single-use plastics, pollution sadly remains an unresolved issue. Zanzibar is not an isolated case: what is happening here is mirrored elsewhere across the globe — for now mostly in coastal regions, but not only. And the pandemic that brought the world to a standstill in 2020 has only made matters worse.