By Wallace Mawire.
Harare. (News of The South) -Zimbabwe’s wetlands are on the verge of extinction as land barons and mushrooming construction companies flout laws and regulations, carrying out unlawful developments on protected areas.
According to Robson Mavondo, Environmental Management Agency (EMA), Harare Provincial Environmental Manager, the agency is concerned over development projects being constructed in wetlands in Harare and its surroundings.
“As an agency we have been mandated through the Environmental Management Act to regulate, monitor and promote sustainable management and the protection of the environment with stakeholder participation. We really appreciate the concern being raised by parliamentarians, stakeholders and the general public pertaining to various environmental issues,” Mavondo said.
According to Mavondo, vleis or wetlands are the primary source of water for the City of Harare. He said that the wetlands feed water into streams and rivers which flow down to the city’s supply dams 32 kilometres downstream, with the water being pumped back up to the city for its needs.
Mavondo said that it has been noted by concerned authorities and stakeholders that the rate of wetland degradation in Zimbabwe and Harare in particular is increasing.
Mavondo said that the main causes of degradation identified by organizations like his include housing developments, industrial effluent discharges, commercial water abstraction, unsustainable agricultural practices, illegal mining and deforestation, just to mention a few.
“Massive water pollution through the discharge of raw and partially treated sewage into wetlands has rendered our wetlands wastelands,” Mavondo said.
The developments projects on wetlands are being conducted despite the country being signatory to the Ramsar Convention, the treaty on the Conservation of Wetlands signed on the 2nd of February 1971 in Ramsar, Iran. Under the same treaty, the World Wetlands day is commemorated in February each year and Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world in the commemorations.
Last year, seven important wetland sites in Zimbabwe were newly added to the RAMSAR Convention’s List of Wetlands of International Importance. The seven are, Victoria Falls National Park, Mana Pools National Park, Monavale Wetland, Lakes Chivero and Manyame, Driefontein Grasslands, Chinhoyi Caves, and Cleveland Dam.
Accession to the RAMSAR list is recognised by conservation organisations and governments worldwide as an important step in helping to protect these vulnerable wetland areas into the future.
The Ramsar convention aims to raise public awareness on conservation, proper utilization and management of wetlands and their resources. It is an intergovernmental treaty whose mission is to promote the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local, regional and national actions and international cooperation as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world.
However, in Zimbabwe despite numerous legislation to protect the wetlands, land barons and political heavyweights continue to disregard the laws carrying out land developments on the vital assets.
A case in point which attracted media attention and public debate is of a controversial Chinese shopping mall, built on a gazetted wetland on the outskirts of Harare which was opened in 2013 amid continuing concerns from residents and experts.
The Long Cheng Plaza mall, was constructed by a Chinese company called Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Corporation at an estimated cost of over $200 million.
However, the project which began in 2012 was mired in controversy. The Environmental Management Agency tried to stop the project on grounds that it was situated on a wetland without success.
The environmental agency is said to have backed down from taking legal action against the Chinese due to political pressure, but not before reportedly fining the Harare City Council for the same offence.
In February this year Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world in commemorating the World Wetlands day under the theme: Wetlands for our future. The theme highlighted how humanity depends on wetlands which provide essential ecosystem services and benefits such as regulating and providing portable water for communities, supporting wildlife and agricultural activities. Wetlands are reported to be important in food production and poverty eradication.
“In order to reverse wetland degradation, there is need for everyone to participate in their conservation and wise use. There is need to strike a balance between meeting human needs, while sustaining biodiversity and other wetland services.We need to make policies that consider wetlands carefully and integrating them into our land use planning in order to avoid clashes between stakeholders and local authorities,” Mavondo said.
Auxillia Mnangagwa, ZANU PF Deputy Secretary for Tourism and Environment urged Zimbabweans to embrace the conservation, proper utilization and management of wetlands and their resources.
“Individuals must not allow themselves to be allocated residential stands in a wetland as this has resulted in their properities cracking, collapsing and flooding,” Mnangagwa said.
She added that responsible stakeholders should not continue to ignore the increasing rate of wetland degradation in Harare.
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