Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
ON April 22, Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Earth Day’s golden jubilee with various activities online.
Earth Day was launched on April 22, 1970 when about 20 million Americans took to the streets to protest against environment ignorance following a crisis of oil spills, smoke and water pollution.
The Earth Day movement demanded a new way forward on conservation of polluted areas and protecting species to save the earth.
Fast forward to 2020, when the whole world is pre-occupied by a new global pandemic, Covid-19, which has led to lockdowns in many nations, the Earth Day 50th anniversary united tens of millions in 192 countries across the world.
The Earth Day Network hosted a live-streamed digital event which was broadcast around the globe and across platforms featuring global leaders, activists and artists, reaching 8,5 million views on the movement’s Twitter account.
Even the head of the Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Francis recognised Earth Day with a message of hope for the planet which was broadcast on live stream, in line with the universal church’s Social Teachings about ‘Stewardships or Care for God’s creation’.
This year’s commemorations were held under the theme, “Climate Action”, which focused on the enormous challenge Mother Nature is facing with regards to climate change, arguably the biggest test to the future of humanity and the life support systems that make the world habitable, as well as climate literacy, plastics, renewable energy, and other environment issues.
The 50th anniversary focused on biodiversity as a strategy to mitigate against the impact of climate change which has also affected human and animal livelihoods.
While Zimbabwe, like every other country was not spared and could not hold a physical event because of the Covid-19-induced lockdown, Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu said in a statement that the coronavirus is hampering efforts to mitigate against climate change.
He said the onslaught of the virus resulted in global climate change events being suspended due to global lockdowns as resources were channelled towards fighting coronavirus despite the fact that climate change is contributing to persistent droughts and affecting livelihoods.
Zimbabwe was represented at the Earth Day Network digital commemorations by newly established Hwange-based youth initiative, Green Shango Environment Trust (GSET), which strives to protect the environment through various activities.
The trust, whose mission is to conserve, enhance and restore the natural environment in Hwange District and Matabeleland North province, featured in one of the videos live streamed by the global network on its Twitter account advocating for the maintenance of environments in their pristine state.
GSET was formed by four Hwange youths who make up the board of trustees. These are Mr Daniel Sithole who is the executive director, Mr Dominic Shaba, Ms Rudolphine Nyoni, (environmentalists) and Ms Innocencia Sibanda who is a projects management graduate from Midlands State University.
Mr Sithole said the trust’s ultimate goal is to mitigate against climate change and global warming through reforestation and civil protection activities as well as engaging local mining industry, which is accused of causing both land and water pollution in Hwange.
“We sent a one minute video which was played on Earth Day as we explained our mandate and activities. Our vision is to have a clean, healthy and well protected environment supporting a sustainable society and economy. Our scope is to cover the whole province but because of resource constraints, we’ll be confined to Hwange District before expanding to Lupane and Binga where there are timber and kapenta fishing activities,” said Mr Sithole.
He said the trust seeks to address four Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) namely SDG number two, which talks of zero hunger, SDG number six (clean water and sanitation), SDG Number 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and SDG Number 13 (climate action).
“Our goal is to champion policies and activities that make a difference in Matabeleland North by educating the society on sustainable development. We teamed up after noticing that there is environmental degradation in Hwange due to extractive mining activities.
“Our first major activity was participation at the recent SDGs summit, the 6th session of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (AFRFSD) which focused on all 17 SGDs in Victoria Falls. As part of our Earth Day activity, we’re donating trees to anyone who is willing and with capacity to plant and take care of them in Hwange District,” said Mr Sithole.
He said since registering as a trust in August 2019, GSET has planted 1 000 mango seedlings, 100 pod mahogany (umkamba in IsiNdebele) largely used by sculptors to make curios, pink ivory (umnyiyi) and paw paw trees with the motto, “Trees for climate change”.
The trust is operating from Big Five Restaurant in Hwange and envisions an environment made of clean, uncontaminated water, clean air and uncontaminated soil with the view to restore natural environments, while working with public and private sector organisations.
“We’ll be donating these trees to some schools and other public institutions in an effort to preserve the environment. We want to focus on pollution of air and rivers and cutting down of trees in Hwange. Remember, we’ve had several incidents of fish dying in Deka River due to inflow of sulphur from mines while at some point people, especially residents of Number 5 suburb, suffered from pneumoconiosis because of very fine coal dust particles. While workers are given masks for safety, the general public is exposed hence they are prone to lung diseases,” said Mr Sithole.
“We’ll be engaged in many civil protection and environment education activities. We want the community to appreciate the protection of the environment and be pro-active in civil protection. We have a booming small scale brick making industry which if not controlled might lead to serious environmental challenges hence the need to strike a balance for sustainability.
“Some people are cutting down trees as they survive on selling charcoal while veld fires are also prevalent. This is the reason why we are planting trees while plans are underway to come up with sustainable projects. We also intend to engage communities to protect the environment and mining companies to consider the environment as well as carry on their extraction activities sustainably with the community in mind.”
One unique environmental concern in Hwange is the smell of coal and fine dust particles that can be felt in one’s eyes on entering the coal mining town. Residential areas and surrounding villages also endure dust from trucks as they carry coal along dusty roads, a concern residents have raised at various fora while calling upon companies to do dust suppression.
GSET wants every citizen to take action in changing the world by maintaining the environment. – @ncubeleon
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter