Sam Matema in TÜRKİYE
Given the existential threats that climate change, biodiversity loss and desertification pose to humanity and every sector of the economy, and considering our increased and inherent vulnerabilities, the call for convergence in our responses has never been louder or more urgent.
The shifting of goalposts by the Global North regarding resource mobilisation and funding arrangements for mitigation and adaptation speaks to a fundamental reality: the West does not necessarily have Africa’s best interests at heart.
We must, therefore, liberate ourselves from its grip and shackles. The existing funding gaps and shortcomings in the mechanisms for both mitigation and adaptation across the global environmental conventions reinforce the view that we are largely on our own.
If that is the case, we should develop homegrown solutions to address our local challenges, taking into account our country-specific circumstances.
Home-grown COP
One of the greatest tragedies confronting us in the age of climate change, biodiversity loss and desertification is the fragmentation of interventions across ministries and sectors of the economy.
It is against this backdrop of fragmentation and silo mentality that there is an urgent need to bring every ministry on board and make it appreciate the centrality, intersectionality and cross-cutting impact of environmental issues.
Given the state of our economy and the very survival of the different ministries, this is important.
Their survival is inextricably linked to the natural environment; ultimately, it is a function of the state and health of that environment.
To this end, we need to do more and do better collectively, ensuring that we push and pull in the same direction for the greater good. This calls for a genuine whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.
Why the urgency?
The urgency is predicated on the fact that we are falling short of our targets across all three Rio Conventions. 2026 has been dubbed the Year of the COPs because all three Rio Conventions — the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
— feature prominently on the 2026 calendar.
We are far from achieving the 30 percent target under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), particularly in relation to its 23 targets. We are also falling short of the 35×35 UNFCCC target.
The consistent feedback across all three Rio Conventions is that funding from those who pollute our environment the most remains inadequate, notwithstanding their common but differentiated responsibilities and commitments. They make promises but rarely honour them. For example, the Cali Fund, established in Cali, Colombia, following CBD COP16, with a target of mobilising US$200 billion, reportedly had only US$10 000 by the time we travelled to Yerevan for COP17.
The West has not demonstrated sufficient sincerity in its approach. It sets the terms and conditions on virtually everything. Even matters concerning our wildlife, which is not theirs, are increasingly subject to their influence. They are also moving in circles on biodiversity-related data. Digital sequence information (DSI), genetic resources and the associated benefit-sharing issues under Article 8(j) of the UNCBD are illustrative and quite telling.
The call is urgent because a failing environment risks ecological overshoot, with potentially disastrous consequences from both a human rights and national security perspective. This is particularly concerning given the water, food and energy insecurity arising from environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change.
It is also urgent because it will bring home the importance of collective effort on environmental matters.
The Zimbabwean delegation to COP31 comprises only 15 people. Given the sheer scale and intensity of the convention, this is a very thin delegation. Critical ministries are not represented here in Antalya. For instance, when the side event on resilient road infrastructure was being discussed, no official from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development was present.
This convention is also an enormous opportunity to market Brand Zimbabwe. It is my humble submission that the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry should be at the forefront, jointly manning the Zimbabwe Pavilion.
The direction of travel
Borrowing from the COP31 theme, “Dialogue, Consensus and Action”, and as we seek to drive implementation through cooperation and collective action, the convening of ZCOP has never been more urgent.
There is a critical need to convene all key stakeholders, including the relevant ministries, to appreciate the centrality and existential importance of the environment across every sector.
Environmental considerations must be brought front and centre of all our decisions and interventions.
This is equally important in our budgeting processes. Budgets should be environmentally sensitive.
We should take stock of our natural capital through capital accounting, so that we generate reliable data to inform and drive decision-making.
Ultimately, this ZCOP gathering should culminate in the adoption of a national convention position paper outlining key outcomes, deliverables and clear pathways for implementation.
The fact that the survival of every sector of the economy depends, directly or indirectly, on the state and health of the environment should no longer be a matter of debate. It is a fact.
Tourism cannot thrive in a degraded or degrading natural environment. Agriculture cannot flourish when the environment is compromised. Hydropower generation is directly linked to the health of our natural environment. Industry and commerce depend on an environment capable of providing essential ecosystem services across the entire value chain.
We must ask ourselves difficult questions and provide practical solutions that serve as exit routes and safety valves.
We have registered 27 percent growth in agriculture, but at what cost to the environment? We have
delivered housing to urban settlers in ecologically sensitive areas, but what are the long-term environmental costs? Are we not risking today’s solutions becoming tomorrow’s problems?
Our mining industry has recorded massive growth, yet artisanal miners continue to cause serious environmental damage, manifesting in water contamination, river siltation and other forms of degradation. The knock-on effects are enormous and far-reaching.
At what cost are we celebrating the increased contribution of mining to gross domestic product? At what cost are we celebrating tobacco deliveries to the auction floors, which are approaching four million kilogrammes?
It is about time we made environmental agreements and commitments compulsory at the national level, moving away from the largely voluntary arrangements that characterise the Rio Conventions. In this regard, there is an urgent need to align our legislation so that it reflects prevailing circumstances and supports the achievement of our intended targets.
Genuinely concerned and deeply frustrated by the lack of commitment demonstrated by the Global North, we must find ways of mobilising financial resources internally, leveraging our domestic natural capital and other forms of capital.
In preparing national budgets, as well as those of local authorities and the private sector, we should introduce a deliberate requirement for environmentally sensitive budgeting. Alongside this, ESG reporting must be made mandatory at all levels.
These efforts will never become reality without a deliberate and intentional approach. Implementation requires cooperation and collective action. No one and no place should be left behind on these critical and existential environmental issues.
Let us organise and convene our very own Conference of the Contracting Parties. It is possible and achievable.
In the meantime, we are all, as environmental stewards, in the dock, both as rights holders and duty bearers, in the context of nature’s rights and its capacity to provide for us. Nature can only continue to produce and provide to the extent that we exercise responsible stewardship.
If we remain unfriendly to mother nature, if we continue to rape and degrade her as we have done over the years, the invoice she presents to us will be heavy. Her delivery note will be populated with droughts, climate-related conflicts, heatwaves, cyclones, tornadoes, vector-borne diseases, floods, melting glaciers and much more.
The jury is still out. Time will give us all the answers!
l Sam Matema is the National Assembly Member for Buhera Central Constituency, Zanu-PF
Manicaland Province Secretary for Administration, environmental enthusiast, Chairperson of the
Climate Parliament Zimbabwe Chapter, and Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environment, Climate and Wildlife. He writes in his personal capacity.
