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Temba Dube Senior Reporter
VELD FIRES have destroyed eight million hectares of national forest between 2001 and 2012, with 61 people being burnt to death in the infernos between 2008 and last year.Revealing the statistics at a workshop in Bulawayo aimed at coordinating efforts to curb environmental crimes, Environmental Management Agency (EMA) manager Mr Robson Mavondo, said 2010 was the worst year environmentally because the largest tracts of land, measuring about 1, 2 million hectares were burnt and 25 people died.
He said the country was losing millions of dollars every year as valuable deciduous trees and plenty of wildlife, which he said was among the major attractions for tourists, was destroyed in the fires.
Mr Mavondo said most of the fires were started deliberately while a significant number were due to failure to observe basic fire handling or prevention rules.
“Because of mismanagement, veldfires have become a destructive phenomenon occurring with significant frequency and intensity in all the 10 provinces. The fires are causing widespread destruction and damage affecting economic sustainability and productivity as well as loss of human life,” said Mr Mavondo.
“A total of 7 823 118 hectares of forest has been lost since 2001.
“Although some of the forests regenerate, it takes many years, and most of the woodlands never recover. The figures have steadily increased.
In 2001 we had 407 950 hectares ravaged by fire, the figure peaked in 2010 and 886 089 hectares were destroyed by veldfires in 2012.
The statistics for people who were burnt to death are also not something to smile about. Starting from 2008 the deaths that were recorded are 9, 10, 25, 5 and 12 people in 2012,” said Mr Mavondo.
He said destruction of forests also resulted in decreased food production and accelerated the negative impacts of climate change.
“Reduction in the carbon sinks, increased soil erosion, siltation that reduces carrying capacity of rivers or dams, loss of habitat for both flora and fauna, biodiversity loss and extinction of some tree and animal species can all result from veldfires,” said Mr Mavondo.
He appealed to members of the public to form fire-fighting committees and educate others about the dangers of starting fires.
Mr Mavondo also urged utility companies to ensure that there was no flammable material around their installations.
He warned the public that it was an offence not to have a fireguard around one’s property during the fire season. The season starts on 31 July and ends on 31 October.
The two-day workshop, which ended yesterday at a Bulawayo hotel, brought together prosecutors, magistrates and the police.
Last year, EMA spokesperson Mr Steady Kangata said besides loss of life and wealth, destroying forests had other more sinister and far reaching consequences.
He said trees were the earth’s lungs and were giant engines that purified the air that animals and people breathe.
“If we destroy them, one day the air would become too polluted to support life and the earth as we know it, would cease to exist,” he said.
Mr Kangata said EMA would continue educating, fining and prosecuting people on veldfire issues for as long as it took to bring a positive change.
In 2010 the pride of Matabeleland, the national heritage site of Old Bulawayo, was reduced to ashes by a veldfire. The Matobo Rock Motel was partially destroyed by the same phenomenon while livestock in the region face starvation every year following the destruction of vast tracts of grazing land by fires.
Online Reporter