Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world today in commemorating the World Wetlands Day, boasting of positive achievements of almost doubling the two-year target of 200 000 hectares of wetlands under sustainable management.
The country now has 350 000ha under sustainable management.
This year’s commemorations are running under the theme: “It’s Time for Wetland Restoration.”
Wetlands are critical in most ecologies, and are not just swamps that need draining.
They purify water and thus are also called the kidneys of the earth; they act as a habitat and also control floods, absorbing rapid inflows of water and gradually releasing them.
The Environmental Management Agency’s environmental education and publicity manager Mrs Amkela Sidange said this year’s theme came at a time when the world was already in the runningthe United Nations decade of ecosystem restoration which runs from 2021 to 2030.
“This theme talks through what is already happening in the country and it gives us a further push to keep the focus on protecting these wetlands as well as restoration of those that have been degraded,” she said.
“The NDS1 gave us a target of 500 000ha of wetlands that should be put under sustainable management by the end of the cycle in 2025. So far we are happy as an agency that we have surpassed the two-year mark whereby we were looking at putting 100 000ha of wetlands per year to sustainable management, but so far we have recorded 350 000ha under sustainable management from 103 wetlands across the country.
“In 2021, the national wetlands policy and national wetlands guidelines were gazetted by Cabinet and were launched by the President in 2022 to strengthen efforts that were already existing.
“It is a moment of applause for the country whereby certain wetlands are being declared ecological sensitive areas which limits any form of development in those wetland areas.
“The Minister of Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry gazetted wetlands in Harare, Ruwa, Epworth and Chitungwiza as ecological sensitive areas through general notice of 2119 0f 2022. Recently, we have another general notice number 6 of 2023 where rural wetlands are being declared ecological sensitive areas.”
Mrs Sidange said the agency was seized with management of wetlands and was promoting inclusive participation in the sustainable wetland management to ensure policies were strengthened and awareness conducted.
Wetlands that have so far been managed for the past two years under the NDS1 target are Zongore, Nyamara and Seke in Mashonaland East, Njovo, Maturure, Marongere in Masvingo and Mazwide in Insiza, Matabeleland South.
Mrs Sidange discouraged people from building on wetlands.
It remains an offence to use a wetland without proper authorisation from the Environmental Agency according to section 113 of the Environmental Management Agency Act.
Zimbabwe is a signatory to the Ramsar Convention on wetlands of 1971.
The Ramsar Convention is an intergovernmental treaty that embodies commitments of its member countries to maintain the ecological character of wetlands and to plan for the wise use of all wetlands in their territories.
Zimbabwe has around 13 million hectares of wetland. – The Herald
