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By Marlvin Ngiza
As the hot dry season fast approaches, citizens have been urged to exercise extreme care in protecting wetlands and adhere to all environmental policies in order to minimize harm to the natural resource.
Environmentalist Noreen Rumbidzai Matonga said people should stop cultivating on or close to wetlands. She also encouraged citizens to work closely with environmental experts.
“We know that people need survival but it’s inappropriate to cultivate on wetlands. If people cultivate on wetlands they will dry up. Doing so will cause water shortages in the future. In conservation, we talk of sustainable use of the environment where we are saying the resources that we have right now should also be there in the next generation, so let’s think about the future.
“According to EMA law, setting up a project on a wetland is prohibited so people should consult Environmental Management Agency (EMA) officers for evaluation in order to avoid losses from demolitions that come with breaching this law. Let us follow all procedures before setting projects. Every project requires a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) so that the area you want to do your project on is evaluated to see if it’s proper to do so,” said Matonga.
She warned of severe water shortages if wetlands are not conserved.
“Wetlands are sources of clean, freshwater. When they fill up our rivers and dams. we get water for everyday use and for our livestock. If we do not preserve our wetlands, we may face problems of water rationing. Again if water bodies dry up, our climate change will be affected since there will be inadequate water to support natural processes such as hydrological cycle hence it brings about many challenges for example drought,” added Matonga
She empahasised the need for every citizen to take part in the conservation of wetlands by adhering to all environmental laws.
“Let us all be part of environmental conservation so that we protect our environment. Let’s adhere to all environmental rules. It is everyone’s responsibility to preserve our environment. There should be more awareness campaigns on radios, televisions, and newspapers for people to get information about wetlands,” said Matonga