Behaviour change key to green economy

Business Indaba in Harare last Thursday heard that humanity only has itself to blame for all the environmental and social disasters seen in the world today.
People have been careless and reckless in everything, the delegates were told, from production to consumption, yes, from the way they eat to the way they defecate, everything.
To reverse or at least neutralise the devastating impacts of global catastrophes such as climate change on the environment and livelihoods, people need to change.
That was the core message during the first day of discussions at the Indaba, an inclusive conference providing a common platform for looking at the green economy concept in the context of sustainable development.
Officially opening the conference, Environment and Natural Resources Management Minister Francis Nhema said addressing human behaviour was at the centre of initiatives and actions of greening the economy.
“Little habits affect our daily lives and have resulted in the environmental challenges we face today,” said Minister Nhema.
“We have become a society that only consumes, consumes and consumes. Unless we think differently, this issue will always be with us. We have to change our behaviour.
“We have to look after ourselves, how do we eat, how do we dispose of things, etc. If we reflect on all those things, then we can begin to see some change.”
Minister Nhema said the Indaba marked a milestone in the future of managing Zimbabwe’s natural environment.
He called on businesses to operate in a way that preserves and promotes environmental integrity.
Environmental Management Agency director- general Mrs Mutsa Chasi said the green economy should ensure increased green investment and increased quantity and quality of jobs in the green sectors.
It should also result in a significant decrease in energy or resource use per unit of production as well as a marked decline of environmental cost of production or consumption.
“Industry should be self-monitoring and drive towards voluntary compliance to reduce pollution,” Mrs Chasi said while emphasising the urgent need to change human approaches to environmental control.
She was, however, at pains to explain the low and soft fines meted out against polluters of the environment.
Delegates viewed some of the fines as scandalous saying they did not do enough to cover the costs of reclaiming a polluted environment.
Some firms actually believed it is cheaper to pollute than to put in place corrective measures.
Examples were given of giant companies like Delta Beverages that was fined a laughable U$5 000 last year for discharging poisonous chemicals into tributaries that feed into Lake Chivero, Harare’s main water source.
Mrs Chasi said: “This is a statutory matter. The fines are defined and categorised by the Ministry of Justice. It is thus difficult for EMA to mete out stiffer penalties.”
On forest plantation management, Zimbabwe had reached crisis level, said Forestry Commission director-general Mr Darlington Duwa.
He said the country was losing 330 000 hectares of forest yearly mainly due to agriculture expansion, fires and deforestation.
At this rate, Zimbabwe will have no forests to talk of in the next 52 years. Forests loss from tobacco curing purposes only accounted for 15 percent of all deforestation activities while nearly 12 000 hectares were lost to fires in 2008 alone. Mr Duwa said woodland cover had fallen to 42 percent in 2008 from 54 percent in 1992.
“Forests are highly exploited and yet there is limited replacement. They are thought to be inexhaustible and yet when used at this rate they will be significantly decimated,” he said.
“We call on the corporate sector to come in on forest management and funding forests operations.”
Zimbabwe needed a serious afforestation and reafforestation programme to replace lost trees, critical in maintaining ecological balance and sucking up dangerous carbons from the atmosphere.
In an apparent private sector-driven response to rampant forest loss, Nyaradzo Group chief executive Mr Philip Mataranyika said they were planning to plant 500 million trees countrywide between now and 2025 through their Friends of the Environment (FOTE) brand.
FOTE had already started a national nurseries programme in schools targeting a production of 100 000 seedlings from each of the 100 nurseries to be or already established.
Through adopting private public community partnerships (PPCPs) Zimbabwe can achieve more in climate change mitigation and adaptation, said Environment Africa chief executive Mrs Charlene Hewat.
She emphasised the need for communities to move from aid to trade, stop handouts and create opportunities, build businesses that economically empower communities.
“This can be achieved through private public community partnerships,” Mrs Hewat said.
“PPCPs build sustainable business model and conserve natural resources. Zimbabwe needs a real deal for environmental protection.
“There is only one future for us, and one Africa, one Zimbabwe, let us protect it.”
God is faithful.