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Michael Magoronga, Midlands Correspondent
THE director of climate change management in the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Mr Washington Zhakata has urged urban local authorities to incorporate climate change mitigation programmes in their plans.
He made the remarks while addressing stakeholders during a climate change management meeting in Kwekwe on Friday. Mr Zhakata said climate change was a major component of devolution hence council budgets should incorporate the key component of climate change.
“Councils should make sure they infuse climate change programs in their budgets in line with the devolution concept. They should lead from the front in climate change management. Most of the devolution funds should also be channelled towards addressing climate change issues,” said Mr Zhakata. He said climate change scientists will be deployed to all provinces and districts to help council officials understand their areas with ease to help in planning.
He said councils should devise ways of converting waste and water into energy as the country thrives to move from over relying on thermal power. “It is high time councils start thinking outside the box and start thinking of ways of converting waste and water into energy.
With a sizeable amount of waste, it can be used to generate a sizeable amount of energy instead of dumping it. It’s also high time councils start thinking of alternative energy sources like solar as we move towards a green economy,” he said. Mr Zhakata said it is never going to be easy to address climate change issues as they were day-to-day issues.
“The solutions that the country is driving at in addressing the issues of climate change are going to be very difficult to implement especially on development because the issues of energy are issues of survival. People need energy to survive and those are the same issue we need to be addressing. We are saying people should not cut down trees but at the same time, people need those same trees for survival so it’s never easy,” he said.
He said some countries were advocating for a ban of Zimbabwean tobacco as a way of preserving deforestation adding the move was tantamount to sanctions. “There are some countries that are saying Zimbabwean tobacco should not be sold because we cut down a lot of trees in treating it. These are some issues that we should have addressed urgently as a country,” he said. He said banning coal was also not helping matters.
“As you may be aware that a motion has already been moved to ban the use of coal and in some countries, coal has since been banned. As a country we need to pour resources towards alternative forms of energy like the Batoka Hydroelectric Gorge and the Devil gorge among other potential areas for electricity generation,” said Mr Zhakata.
The meeting is part of a nationwide tour by the department in a bid to raise awareness on climate change management issues as the country moves towards a green economy.
The team visited all eight districts in the Midlands Province where they met stakeholders in each district. This comes as Zimbabwe has set a target to achieve a green economy by 2030 while climate change issues have been mainstreamed in all sectors of the economy.-@sinyoromike
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