Chronicle Editor
Rumbidzai Mbewe, Sunday News Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe Christian Alliance has launched a US$35 000 environmental rehabilitation project in Hwange to address environmental damages and help capacitate villagers to engage mining companies in the district as more and more investments are coming in the country’s extractive industry.
The mining companies will contribute towards the rehabilitation programmes while Southern Africa Trust has put in a substantial amount towards the project.
In an interview, the ZCA Executive Director Reverend Useni Sibanda disclosed that this was a pilot project running for one year.
The project running under the title ‘Communities for Environmental Action’, will be implemented in areas under chiefs Whange and Nekatambe.
“We will be partnering with other stakeholders who have expertise on environmental issues so that they guide us accordingly on how we can handle these issues. A year from now we hope to have learned from this pilot project and be able to scale it up as well as expand into other areas where we can ensure a more sustainable manner of exploitation of natural resources that will preserve the environment,” he said.
Rev Sibanda said besides looking at environmental issues they also intend to bring the element of conflict resolution skills to church leaders to enable them to resolve conflicts that may arise in the community.
“Communities will also be equipped with skills on how to engage with the mining companies. The pilot project intends to develop a model of how communities, stakeholders and mining companies could work together to be good stewards of the environment while creating space for sustainable exploitation of natural resources,” he said.
Zimbabwe is one of the countries that have been affected by climate change and the Government has committed to the protection of the environment as part of its obligation under the Zimbabwean constitution.
“As a nation we have signed up to international protocols that we must adhere to. This project will have a component of communities holding the mining companies to account on ensuring that exploitation of natural resources in Hwange is done in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner,” said Rev Sibanda.
Speaking during the launch meeting, the Hwange District Development Coordinator, Mrs Nyaradzo Masocha said the initiative being spearheaded by ZCA was very crucial especially at a time when there were so many mining companies coming into the district that need to be taken to task on how they are rehabilitating the environment after extracting minerals.
“This district has so many minerals and there are many mining companies that are exploring these minerals hence we cannot avoid land degradation. There is need to have rehabilitation programmes after the extraction of these minerals so that we continue benefitting from our natural resources. I am very happy that we have organisations such as the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance coming in to help us come up with ways of rehabilitating our environment,” she said.
She mentioned that there are some companies who have begun the process of rehabilitating boreholes in some of the areas such as Mashala that have been affected by the Deka River water pollution.
“There are two companies working to rehabilitate boreholes in Mashala for people to access clean water. If we have more projects like this then I am sure that we are going to have these companies owning up and fixing these problems so that people in the communities are not disadvantaged,” she said.
The project is informed by the current influx of extractive projects in the district that have negative social and environmental consequences. The most affected people neither have the power to oppose these developments nor properly participate in decisions to alleviate harm while having access to benefits from the developments. @rumbie_mbewe
Online Reporter