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NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Zim speeds down an unsustainable path

Opinion & Analysis
On the eve of the most important conference on sustainable development RIO+ 20 the world remains on unsustainable track despite hundreds of internationally agreed goals and objectives. The world over countries commemorated the United Nations World Environment Day in style on June 5. Officials in charge of the environment in Zimbabwe and elsewhere seemed querysome, […]

On the eve of the most important conference on sustainable development RIO+ 20 the world remains on unsustainable track despite hundreds of internationally agreed goals and objectives.

The world over countries commemorated the United Nations World Environment Day in style on June 5.

Officials in charge of the environment in Zimbabwe and elsewhere seemed querysome, no one had an answer to why the environment was deteriorating so fast.

The environment week was so special to the world this year than any other time in many ways. It was celebrated on the eve of the Rio+20 the most important conference on sustainable development on the UN calendar in 10 years.

It was not an irony then that when Environment minister Francis Nhema accompanied by secretary Florence Nhekairo launched the countrys environmental outlook report, he indicated Zimbabwewas living on borrowed time.

Zimbabwe is a signatory to almost all UN protocols on the environment, but a lot needs to be done on that front.

But, yes these ambitious set of sustainability targets can be met, (only) with renewed commitment and rapid scaling-up of successful policies.

Attitudes have to change, it must be an honour to keep our cities, our country and our space (where we live) free of dirt. The country must not celebrate litterbugs. People must feel ashamed of throwing away litter everywhere. This does not call for sterner measures, but change of attitude by everyone.

A fast-growing urban population, globalisation and climate change alongside a need to boost governance, are also among the challenges facing Zimbabwe and of-course Africa if we are to put ourselves firmly on the path to a sustainable future.

Clearly the continent is still lagging behind with respect to meeting internationally-agreed goals while increasing pressure on its natural resources can lead and has led to tensions and resource degradation as Africas population grows at the fastest rate in the world.

Yet many countries are adopting collaborative cross-border policies and projects that contain seeds for a more sustainable future from a renewed understanding of the value of forests to ecosystems.

In Zimbabwe that has seen a change in government policy to the network of protected areas on the countryside, for example curbing rampant forest fires, gold panning, sand poaching and deforestation.

If scaledup and accelerated, such measures could assist in a transition to a Green economy as nations across the globe prepare for the Rio+20 Summit later this month.

Some of the above measures are among the main findings for Africa from the Global Environment Outlook 5 (launched last week), which analyses the worldwide state of the environment and tracks progress towards agreed goals and targets.

International goals to reverse deforestation are off track in Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular, with over three million hectares lost each year due to an expansion of agricultural lands to meet food needs and, to an extent, the international demand for biofuels.

Globally, although the Millennium Development Goal target on water supply was met in 2010, more than 600 million people will still lack access to safe drinking water in 2015.

In Africas cities, Harare among them characterised by extremes of prosperous centres and poor, informal settlements many governments struggle to provide social services including access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

Harare mayor Much Masunda at one time pointed out he was in charge in the capital and was putting measures to uplift living standards through provision of water and improved service delivery.

But residents in the capital actually spend more time without water and electricity. Hence, people may find it difficult to support Masundas (I like his intellect) push to repossess Harare power station when nothing has been done to improve the water situation in Harare, itself an environmental misnomer.

It is pertinent to understand that achieving food and energy security and managing environmental risks is also a challenge.

Exacerbating the issues is climate change, which can accelerate urbanisation and place further stress on natural resources such as freshwater and land through extreme weather events.

Weak governance means that the complex web of interwoven issues are not being dealt with, although Africas track record of collaborative projects between governments, communities and stakeholders shows progress is possible.

Perhaps it is time all politicians and not only Nhema and staff in his ministry, industry and commerce, Environmental Management Authority (EMA) director general Mutsa Chasi or Masunda himself a technocrat and businessman and many others of their ilk, pay particular attention to policy approaches, highlighting successful national and regional policies that can be scaled up and replicated elsewhere.

Emerging trends and regional priorities for action must also be explored for the benefit of everyone. Can Zimbabwe stand up and be counted?

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