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Talent Chimutambgi and Nesia Mhaka
Government is committed to crafting master plans to mitigate climate change, which has negative impact on people’s lives across the country.
Speaking during a post Fifteenth Conference of Youth (COY 15) and the 25th Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP 25) feedback meeting held in Harare last week, Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu revealed that Government was coming up with strategies to reduce the effects of climate change.
He said the environment and economic growth were intertwined and there was need to create a conducive environment for a wealth planet for future generations.
“As a Government, we are very much committed to climate action,” he said.
“A lot of work has been done by the Government in trying to climate proof all socio-economic sectors and put in place proper policy and institutional frameworks.
“In line with having a circular economy by 2030 and as a way of making people cautious of their surrounding environment, His Excellency, the President of Zimbabwe, declared the first Friday of each calendar month to be the National Environment Clean-Up Day.
“The Government developed the National Climate Policy (2017) and a National Climate Change Response Strategy to guide climate change work in the country.
“The objective of the policy is to guide climate change management in the country, enhance the national adaptive capacity towards climate resilience, scale up mitigation actions, facilitate domestication of climate-related global policies and ensure compliance to the global mechanisms.
“We recognise that we need to leave future generations a clean, healthy and wealthy planet and to do that we need to be very ambitious by moving towards a greener and cleaner future, creating greener jobs for our youth and a stronger economy.”
Minister Ndlovu said there were prospects to develop or strengthen climate change legislation that would establish a firm and well-defined institutional structure for climate change management in the country, as well as establish a National Climate Change Funding Mechanism to ensure climate change was main-streamed in planning and budgetary processes at national and sub-national levels.
He said Government was in the process of implementing the National Adaptation Planning (NAP) with support from the Green Climate Fund NAP Readiness Programme with the thrust of strengthening adaptation readiness of the country and to create an enabling environment for concrete adaptation investment projects.
Online Reporter