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Zimbabwe is taking commendable steps to combat desertification and hunger, Honourable Mangaliso Ndlovu, the Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry has said.
The Minister revealed this on the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought on 17 June 2021.
Zimbabwe as a party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification continues to actively participate in programmes related to Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (DLDD). These include the drought initiative, voluntary land degradation neutrality target setting and the (3S) Initiative “Sustainability, Stability and Security”.
The country also continues to contribute to global status on land degradation through the provision of national reports with up-to-date information on measures the country takes to address DLDD within the UNCCD strategic 2018-2030 framework, implementation of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in particular (SDG) indicator 15.
“Important to note is that Zimbabwe has an estimated 35% of the country’s land area affected by land degradation, while drought is recorded as the most common and recurring natural disaster since 1992. In the last two decades, the country experienced extreme weather conditions leading to acceleration of land degradation.
“In response to the DLDD challenges, Zimbabwe has actively programmed national interventions to avoid, reduce and restore degraded landscapes with commendable support (Technical and Financial) from the UNCCD Secretariat co-financed with own resources,” Minister Ndlovu said.
The country has programmes in place for combating desertification, land degradation and drought. It has not been spared with the Covid-19 pandemic just like any other nation. The recovery strategies for the country, have been put in place under the new National Development Strategy 1 (2021 – 2025), our first national five-year strategy which fits well with Agenda 2030 and United Nations decade on Ecosystems restoration.
There are set targets of restoring over one million hectares of degraded wetlands and reducing the total national burnt area to below one million hectares each year. Furthermore, the National Development Strategy 1 elevates the discourse of DLDD, biodiversity improvement and creation of community resilience to effects of climate change.
Zimbabwe committed itself to the Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting process in 2018 and did set the targets which have since been mainstreamed into the National Development Strategy1 (2021 to 2025).
As a strategic measure to support DLDD programmes in the country, there has been progressive reviews and upgrading of national environmental policies and legislation across sectors that relate to desertification, land degradation and drought mitigation, particularly in the environment, energy and agricultural sectors.
The country is implementing a number of national programmes as part of the local action to support the UNCCD strategy from 2018 to 2030. Some of the programmes include drought mitigation through the adoption of conservation agriculture, renewable energy, and poverty alleviation programme for the provision of alternative livelihoods aimed at relieving pressure on natural resources, promotion of circular economy to reduce degradation of the landscape by solid waste among others.
“As a country, we have a significant budget allocation in the fiscus for land restoration programmes and through the Devolution Agenda. Under the AFR 100, Zimbabwe pledged a restoration commitment of 2 million hectares of land under afforestation, a programme being supported and implemented under the national tree-planting project,” Minister Ndlovu added.
He said Zimbabwe stands ready to learn from other nations on the strategies for accessing the Land Degradation Neutrality Fund which was operationalized in December 2018.
“It is our hope that the LDN fund support framework will be reviewed to make it more friendlily to land restoration so that it contributes to improved livelihoods through decent job creation and gender equality.
“Our country has observed that there is limited capacity in generation and use of national data especially on land productivity and soil organic carbon. It is our hope that increased support to this area will be availed under the convention to ensure that nations create standardized national data for the quantitative mapping of land productivity and soil carbon content for the assessment, monitoring and reporting of land degradation to parties.”
The Minister paid tribute to the United Nations family with particular mention of the UNCCD Global mechanism, Global Environment Facility, UNEP and other partners for their support to Zimbabwe on the fight against land degradation.