Involve communities in forests conservation: Chimene

16 Dec, 2016 - 00:12 0 Views
Involve communities in forests conservation: Chimene

The ManicaPost

Samuel Kadungure Farming Reporter —
ZIMBABWE’S vast natural forests can only meaningfully contribute to the sustainable socio- economic growth of the nation with the enlightening and inclusion of local communities in their management and conservation.

Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs, Cde Mandi Chimene, made the remarks during a provincial tree planting day at Zurura Secondary School in Makoni recently.

Cde Chimene said climate change was real and had caused severe droughts which resulted in crop failure, drying of water bodies and floods which threaten food security.

Cde Chimene said Government was mandated by Section 73 of the Constitution to ensure that every person has a right to an environment that is not harmful to health or wellbeing and, have their environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations through reasonable legislations and other measures that; prevent pollution and ecological degradation, promote conservation, and secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting economic and social development.

“This responsibility, however, can only be better achieved through an educated and enlightened society. This is the very reason why this day was set aside, to create awareness on the importance and value of trees. Trees play a very critical role in ensuring food security through provision of fruits and other non–timber forest products,” said Cde Chimene.

This year’s theme is –Agroforestry for Climate Change Resilience and Food Security – which focuses on the role of forestry as it relates to other crops in creating a resilient community for food security.

The tree of the year is the Pod Mahogany/Mukamba/ Umkamba.

“Climate change is real, it has caused severe droughts which resulted in crop failure, drying of water bodies such as dams, weirs and rivers and boreholes, which threaten food security.

“Moving towards a green economy requires a focus on climate change mitigation and adaptation. Trees are more resistant to drought than annual crops such as maize crop. In situations where we have total crop failure, trees will continue to thrive, thereby providing effective safety nets to households in times of food shortages.
Even in a situation when there is a bumper harvest, trees will still provide additional nutrition, incomes and other services beneficial to our livelihoods. Integrating trees and crops in our farming (agro-forestry) has got several advantages that include minimising drought risks, increase the value of our land as well as maximum land utilisation.
Forests provide water shade protection, climate change mitigation, soil stability and prevention of soil erosion, arrest land degradation, and provide windbreaks, microclimate stabilisation, and the general beauty of our landscape,” said Cde Chimene.

Cde Chimene said pressure on water resources was increasing due to the effects of deforestation and climate change.

“Most of our soils in the province are very fragile and easily eroded when vegetation is removed resulting in severe siltation of dams and rivers which again has a long term negative impact on agricultural production. It destroys irrigation infrastructure, and compromise food security,” she said, adding that forests play a critical role in the hydrological cycle.

Manicaland is the hub of the forestry industry that supplies the nation with all timber based requirements.

Timber is a strategic resource and at its peak the industry employed over 15 000 people directly in sawmills, factories and plantations with another 50 000 more employed in downstream industries such furniture, carpentry shops and cottage industries across the country.

Zimbabwe is losing forests at a swift rate due to tobacco curing, brick moulding, charcoal making and firewood selling.Zimbabwe is ranked the fourth largest Virginia tobacco producer after China, Brazil and the United States of America.

Virginia tobacco requires a lot of wood energy to cure it and studies have shown that at least 20-cubic metres of wood, which is equivalent to one hectare of woodland vegetation cover is required to cure a tonne of tobacco.

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