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THE 2020-21 agricultural season appears to be blessed with good rains, judging by the current trend, and this should bode well for the rejuvenation of our vegetation and improvement of pasture for livestock around the country.
We are aware of the water problems bedevilling many communities around the country and we believe the rains will address that too. However, our call in this instalment is to every Zimbabwean to spare a thought for our environment. We can still do a little more to avoid choking our environment through littering, through wanton cutting down of trees that in the long run could even have an impact on our rainfall patterns.
We are in the national tree planting week and we believe if every Zimbabwean planted a tree this week we would have replaced millions of trees that are cut or burnt every year due to veld fires. However, how many Zimbabweans have incorporated tree planting into their culture? We are aware that people cut down trees for use as firewood, especially in urban areas, in suburbs where there is no electricity.
There are also those that cut down trees for use in their kilns as they burn their farm bricks, for tobacco curing and the more worrying development of illegal charcoal producers that are plundering our forests.
According to Globalforestwatch.org there have been 4 898 fire alerts reported so far in 2020 in the country, a low figure compared with totals for previous years going back to 2012. The most fires recorded in a year was 2015, with 10 804.
Between 3 December 2019 and 1 December 2020 Zimbabwe experienced a total of 64 860 fire alerts.
Zimbabwe’s Sixth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) estimates that 54 plant species present in Zimbabwe are listed as threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species with 16 being endangered and 38 vulnerable.
Our plea therefore, is that everyone goes all out to plant a tree or even trees this December and contribute towards improving our environmental friendliness at a time the global focus on global warming is increasing.
We believe the reason the first week of December was proclaimed as national tree planting week was because it is just after the start of the rain season. Let us use the rains wisely and plant trees and leave a legacy, and bequeath the next generation a healthy environment.
If we slacken and fail to replace the wasted vegetation, we could precipitously trudge on the brink of disaster, as the spectre of desertification stares us in the face in many areas where communities have paid lip service to the conservation gospel.
The Covid-19 lockdown saw many families with so much time on their hands that they established vegetable gardens and enjoyed great savings. It should be the same with fruit trees, many of which we can plant and reap the rewards later.
They provide us with shade, windbreak, purify our air and even boost our nutrition through the fruits, not to mention that the trees are a habitat for birds, apart from beautifying our homes. Go ahead, plant a tree and leave a mark for the next generation.
Online Reporter