Tanzania, Aug. 31 -- Dar es Salaam. Tanzania's land is increasingly becoming an economic asset under pressure, as climate change, population growth, expanding agriculture and weak spatial planning collide to raise the cost of doing business and threaten livelihoods.

Experts cite more than 80 percent of Tanzania's land is now classified as degraded, compared with 42 percent in 1980, while mainland Tanzania loses an estimated 469,420 hectares of forest annually.

The government's own environmental analysis also identifies unsustainable agriculture, livestock keeping, mining, fires and tree cutting among major drivers of degradation.

As such, researchers at the Aga Khan University's Arusha Climate and Environmental Research Centre (AKU-ACE...