Source: Govt steps up efforts to rehabilitate degraded land – herald
Lovemore Kadzura
Mutare Bureau
THE Environmental Management Agency has stepped up efforts to rehabilitate landscapes across the country amid revelations that about 46 percent of land has been degraded by natural causes and human activities.
In an interview on the sidelines of a tour of the reclaimed 360 hectares of landscape in Nenhowe Village in Chimanimani District, Environmental Management Agency (EMA) Education and Publicity Manager Ms Amkela Sidanke said the country is losing about six percent of its national Gross Domestic Product due to environmental issues and called upon communities to safeguard their natural resources.
“About 46 percent of Zimbabwe is affected by land degradation and it costs the country about six percent of the national Gross Domestic Product due to degraded landscapes.
“It is something that we cannot watch and say it is nature taking care of itself. As EMA, our mandate drove us to act, so we are seized with the rehabilitation of our degraded landscapes. We are also talking about the issue of halting damage and reversing degradation, and we are carrying out some projects across the country.
We were to rehabilitate 430 000 hectares of land, and the rehabilitation is taking a multi-pronged approach, done under degraded wetlands and derelict open spaces.
In Manicaland Province, the restoration was concerned with both economic and social aspects that have an impact on communities. We are encouraging all communities to participate in all initiatives that are meant to protect landscapes because this is where we grow our food. Food security and climate change are intertwined and, as a country, this is something that we should prioritise,” said Ms Sidanke.
Drylands Sustainable Landscapes Impact Programme — Zimbabwe Project national project manager Mrs Precious Magwaza said Zimbabwe is part of 11 nations where intensive landscape rehabilitation is being carried out and is positively impacting livelihoods in eight districts across Manicaland, Midlands and Masvingo Provinces.
“We are focused on issues of environment and sustainable forest management, where we are building the capacity of institutions to manage landscapes and forests.
“We are also training farmers, where they are being capacitated to properly manage their land. We support business development for the farmers in traditional grains and non-timber forest products.
“At Nenhowe, we are carrying out catchment management activities and we have a protected and quite large area which is characterised by fragile soils,” said Mrs Magwaza.
Nenhowe Village Head Mr Tobias Nenhowe said environmental degradation is threatening livelihoods in areas where communities rely on agriculture for survival and hailed the Government for the intervention.
“We are in a sloping area and during the rainy season there is a lot of run-off, which causes gullies on our fields.
“Farming activities have been made very difficult and are also worsened by recurrent droughts. We want to thank the Government and its development partners for the rehabilitation of our landscapes,” he said.
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