Harare, (New Ziana)-The government needs to encourage communities to participate in wetlands management to enable them acquire skills and knowledge to preserve wetlands, experts said on Friday.
Rumbidzai Takawira, an environmental activist and communications expert on environmental affairs, told a meeting on wetlands management that effective conservation of wetlands was only possible through a paradigm shift that enables communities, including those in urban areas, to participate in decision-making activities focused on wetlands preservation.
Some forms of community participation are simple, such as promoting the application of indigenous knowledge in wetland management.
In addition, the meeting heard, community participation in wetland management through creation of functional local level management institutions and establishment of by-laws should be encouraged.
The meeting was held as Zimbabwe prepares to host the upcoming 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP15) in Victoria Falls from July 23 to 31, this year. Zimbabwe has been a signatory to Ramsar since 2013.
The management of wetlands in Zimbabwe is guided by the Ramsar Convention.
The meeting was attended by environmental community groups, conservation advocates, environmental experts, representatives of the Environmental Management Agency, the media, academic and environmental research institutions.
Addressing participates at the meeting, Takawira, who is also the founder of Conservation Conversation, a Zimbabwe platform for conservation education and advocacy, said local authorities and communities should continue to be engaged for wetland planning and management while significant community wetland protection projects
should also be established in the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, Dorothy Wakeling, a project manager of the Conservation Society of Monavale (COSMO), a support group founded in 2005, said the Monavale Vlei community in Harare has taken significant steps to protect the wetland, collaborating with the municipality of Harare and international bodies to do so.
“The community efforts include reducing biodiversity loss, restoration projects, educational walks, research, outreach to other communities, advocacy and influencing policymakers,” Wakeling said.
“We have hired a conservation specialist who oversees the preservation of the area, and carries out various awareness programmes to educate stakeholders on the significance of wetlands.”
Characterised by miombo woodlands, Monavale Vlei is an urban wetland.
Another of Zimbabwe’s Wetlands of International Importance, it plays an important role in the fragile ecosystem of the Manyame Basin, the main supplier of water for Harare city and its suburbs.
It supports a variety of birds, mammals, rodents, amphibians and reptiles.
According to the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), wetlands cover three per cent of Zimbabwe’s area, while the country has seven Wetlands of International Importance.
ZELA also states that 21 per cent of the country’s wetlands are stable, whereas 18 per cent are severely degraded and 61 per cent moderately degraded.
Challenges and threats to Zimbabwe’s wetlands systems are deforestation of watersheds, overgrazing, pollution, land tenure and dam developments.
A number of these threats and issues stem from national problems of poverty, population pressure and uncoordinated developments, such as housing and commercial property developments.
Wetland functions include water storage, flood reduction, ground water recharge, biodiversity support, provision of habitat for fauna and the filtering of nutrients and pollutants.
In line with the provisions of the Ramsar Convention, Zimbabwe in 2017 designated seven wetlands to be of national and international importance
as Ramsar sites.
These are Cleveland Dam, Chinhoyi Caves Recreational
Park, Driefontein Grasslands, Lakes Chivero and Manyame, Mana Pools National Park, Monavale Wetland and the Victoria Falls National Park.
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