05 June 2023. Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) joins the rest of the world in commemorating World Environment Day. World Environment Day is an annual event led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is celebrated on June 5 every year for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the commemoration since 1973.
The first World Environment Day was celebrated in 1973 with the theme “Only One Earth” and this year’s theme is “Solutions to plastic pollution” with the hashtag #BeatPlasticPollution.
According to the UNEP Executive Director, Inger Andersen, and FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, Degradation is already affecting the well-being of an estimated 3.2 billion people – that is 40 per cent of the world’s population. Every single year we lose ecosystem services worth more than 10 per cent of our global economic output.
Over the past years, Zimbabwe has experienced a range of environmental problems. Issues of pollution, mining dumps, natural resource depletion, deforestation and land degradation have become common features in the country. This has been evidenced by coal seam fires in Hwange, the destruction of mountains in Mvuma and open mine pits left behind in Penhalonga. Environmental management and its integration with development has become a major issue. The mining industry has thrived at the expense of the environment. The massive growth of the mining sector has posed a serious threat to the environment and those suffering from these effects are the mining host communities.
Deforestation, land, water, and air pollution are among the key environmental challenges. There has been an increase in the use of plastic which has highly contributed to land pollution in less privileged communities that have no waste management practices. Much of the plastic waste ends up in open pits, a common eye sore in communities surrounded by mines such as Hwange and Marange. Plastic waste takes forever to degrade and threatens livestock and wildlife. An average of five families in each mining community lose a cow which would have consumed plastic waste. It is against this background that CNRG joins the world in campaigning for the prevention of plastic pollution.
As The Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) we believe in promoting citizen participation and good governance of natural resources for the ultimate benefit of communities that live in resource-rich areas. We are therefore deeply concerned with the deepening, exacerbating and unabated environmental degradation affecting mining communities in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is blessed with abundant strategic minerals such as gold, diamonds, chrome, platinum, and lithium which are in demand the world over. Extraction and exportation of these minerals has failed to transform the economy of Zimbabwe but have in turn left a trail of destruction. Throughout Zimbabwe, all communities endowed with mineral resources – from Marange to Hwange; from Mutoko to Beitbridge – are distressed by the failure of the government to ensure communities do not only carry the burden of natural resource extraction.
We are equally concerned with land displacements to pave way for mining. Resource extraction has proven to be a major threat to Zimbabwe’s environment. Mining, quarrying, and logging operations are having a negative impact on the environment. These activities are polluting our rivers and streams, damaging wildlife habitats, and contributing to climate change on a global scale. Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans have had their land offered to extractive industries without their knowledge or consent. Vast swathes of land have been set aside for exploration and subsequent mining projects.
Finally, the environmental degradation unfolding in Zimbabwe due to mining has no parallel in the history of our country. Hills and indigenous forests are disappearing, agricultural lands invaded, water courses disrupted, and deep pits left open everywhere in pursuit of the so-called 12-billion-dollar mining economy by 2023. Once-scenic landscapes such as Boterekwa in Shurugwi, Penhalonga hills, and Premier Central Estates in Mutare have been severely degraded. Added to this mining-induced war on nature, there is climate change whose impacts are increasing in severity with each passing year. It is self-evident that Zimbabwe’s uncontrolled mining activities are weakening the capacity of the environment to sustain human life, flora, and fauna. The resilience of our society to climate shocks has never been this fragile.
It is against this background that we call on the government to:
- Ensure that the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) carries its mandate without political hindrance and revokes the licence of mining companies that fail to sustainably protect the environment.
- Regulating and enforcing environmental laws and policies without political interference.
- Ensure that mining companies have reduced their carbon footprint, conserve biodiversity and promote environmental sustainability in all their operations.
- Focus more on safeguarding and protecting mining-affected communities who cannot protect themselves from the mining giants.
For more details please contact:
Centre for Natural Resource Governance CNRG Information department, Email info@cnrgzim.org Cell +263 779 078 873
Twitter: @CNRG_ZIM
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cnrg
Website: https://cnrgzim.org/