Online Reporter
Elita Chikwati
The business community has been urged to take an active role in wetlands management and contribute to finding sustainable solutions for ecosystem protection.
This call to action was made during an event held alongside the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15), in Victoria Falls.
The side event organised by DanChurchAid in collaboration with Conservation Conversation, Ubuntu Alliance and Friends of the Environment was attended by business leaders, legislators and members of civil society from different countries, including Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Kenya, South Africa and sectors comprising finance, waste management and data, among others.
DanChurchaid country director Mr Mads Lindegard said Zimbabwe was privileged to still have pristine ecosystems, which had long disappeared in other countries.
“We all need to come together, corporate and non-corporate citizens, to protect our common asset, our planet, or else we will all pay the ultimate price,” he said.
“In DanChurchAid we are firsthand witnesses to how climate change displaced communities and causes food insecurity for millions of people worldwide.
“For us, the obvious thing is to set an example and to pioneer new standards of responsibility, and to explore new private sector partnerships for the benefit of all.”
Since 2020, DanChurchAid, in partnership with the Government and other actors, have provided climate change-related disaster relief to over 200 000 individuals in response to these shocks, provided food security for over 30 000 people, mainly women and children, and delivered food security to 115 000 vulnerable people in Harare and Bulawayo.
“Our premise is that an effective response is one where affected communities participate fully in the process and are empowered through capacity strengthening, skills and knowledge transfer to engage in the wider social, economic and political issues on climate mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity protection initiatives,” Mr Lindegard said.
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environment and Climate chairman Cde Sam Matema urged stakeholders to embrace indigenous knowledge and the use of science to enhance current ecological management practices.
“Cultural knowledge has preserved Zimbabwe’s ecosystems where other countries have failed. All stakeholders, including the corporate sector, must come together to jointly determine the way forward,” he said.
DanChurchAid communications and advocacy lead, Mrs Patience Ukama, said such engagement would reduce biodiversity loss, including wetland degradation, human wildlife conflict and ensure that communities had a seat at the table, together with the private sector, to ensure a whole-of-society approach to wetland management.
“This requires a holistic, inclusive, and integrated approach incorporating all key players in the landscape,” she said.
DanChurchAid incorporates indigenous knowledge systems as a key source of wisdom for back-stopping climate change and the related shocks, enhancing people’s knowledge beyond conventional science.
The hybrid of indigenous and modern knowledge benefits farmers through agroecology and other transformative capacities, such as climate-adaptive agriculture.
The knowledge promotes effective landscape and biodiversity management, which have always been at the core of indigenous knowledge systems.
In the past five years, DanChurchAid has increased its global agroecology portfolio from 28 percent in 2019 to 67 percent in 2021.
Zimbabwe is among the countries that have benefited from this dedicated agroecological programming work, with projects in Matabeleland North and South reaping most of the benefits.
DanChurchAid focus in the lower and middle Zambezi Valley is on sustainable and responsible biodiversity management, supporting national efforts across Zimbabwe’s five distinct ecological regions, to ensure that the country continues to provide habitats for an abundant and diverse flora and fauna.
Online Reporter