Staff Reporter
Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world today in commemorating the World Wetlands Day.
This year’s commemorations are running under the theme: “It’s Time for Wetland Restoration.”
The Environmental Management Agency’s (EMA) Environmental Education and Publicity manager, Amkela Sidange said this year’s theme came at a time when the world is observing the United Nation’s 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. The NDS1 gave us a target of 500 000 ha 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 100 000 ha of wetlands per year to sustainable management, but so far we have recorded 350 000ha under sustainable management from 103 wetlands across the country,” said Sidange.
Sidange added that wetlands that have been managed so far under the NDS1 target are Zongore; Nyamara and Seke in Mashonaland East, Njovo; Maturure and Marongorore in Masvingo and Mazwide in Insiza, Matabeleland South province.
Speaking to this publication, an environmentalist Patrick Chinyauke commended the Government for protecting wetlands.
“We commend the Government for the coordinated efforts to develop and implement action plans to stop the on-going degradation of wetlands and protect, preserve and restore them. In times of drought, wetlands provide communities with water for agriculture.
“Wetlands can also intercept runoff water from surfaces prior to reaching open water and remove pollutants through physical, chemical, and biological processes. They also play an important role in flood abatement, soaking up and storing floodwater. They are also important as they also provide habitat for threatened and endangered species. Citizens need to reserve wetlands as they provide a number of opportunities which include sources of water given the dwindling of reservoirs throughout the country,” said Chinyauke.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is a signatory to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. In 2022, President Emmerson Mnangagwa launched national wetlands policy and guidelines to protect and stop the degradation of wetlands.
