Tunu Kalanje: Russia and Tanzania Can Cooperate on Environmental Protection

Participants are discussing the responsible development of artificial intelligence and digital inequality. The organizers have prepared plenary sessions and panel discussions for experts on building a fair digital world order. Tunu Kalanje, founder and director of an environmental association in Tanzania, spoke to the IT Russia media platform at the forum about how digital technologies can help protect the environment and advance environmental education.

– I am the founder and director of an association that works on environmental issues in Tanzania. In particular, we teach children how to identify environmental risks and address them.

I believe modern technology has a great deal to offer environmental protection. Technology is advancing rapidly, and it is important to use it to build environmentally sustainable infrastructure. Roads, buildings and other facilities should follow sustainable development principles to reduce environmental pollution. Technology also creates new educational opportunities. In our work with children, we can move from traditional, analog teaching methods to digital ones. All of this can help build a better future for current and future generations. We can also learn from Russia’s experience in environmental protection.

Artificial intelligence can be an important tool for addressing environmental problems. For example, it can help detect plastic and other types of pollution. In education, AI can connect people across countries. We could create an international platform for sharing information and learning about what is happening in the digital world. Such a platform would be a valuable educational tool.

To protect the environment, we need to understand what we are protecting it from. We cannot preserve what we know nothing about. That is why it is important to give people the knowledge, skills and tools they need to protect nature.

Russia and Tanzania could expand cooperation through initiatives such as student exchange programs. Young people from Tanzania could come to Russia for one, two or three months to study Russian approaches to ecology and environmental protection, then apply what they have learned back home.

We could also strengthen cooperation at the government level. If I am not mistaken, Tanzania’s president visited Russia last year. We have a ministry responsible for environmental issues, and it could work with the relevant Russian agency. Such a partnership would help us develop and implement environmental technologies.