Mathew M. Abang (PhD, MBA) When compared with other regions of the world, Southern Africa’s GDP growth between 2011 and 2017 was higher than that of advanced economies. However, the Southern Africa region (the Member States of the Southern African Development Community – SADC) failed to maintain the growth momentum and had the lowest growth…
UNICEF Zimbabwe has appointed Nkosilathi Nyathi (17) as a UNICEF Youth Climate Advocate to advance the climate and environment agenda in Zimbabwe and mobilize other young people to join the fight against climate change. The appointment comes as UNICEF commemorates World Children’s Day on November 20, under the theme “Reimagining a greener more sustainable future,…
By Anyway Yotamu. Zimbabwe is on the right track to combating climate change by implementing agreements outlined in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Addressing delegates at the two-day Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs) communication strategy validation workshop in Harare, Director of Climate Change in the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry, …
By Charles Dhewa In the face of intensifying climate change, voices calling for Africans to go back to their original food systems are getting louder. Such voices are guided by changes in the natural phenomena that once existed in several African communities and countries. Many voices are lamenting the fact that policymakers have embraced foreign…
By Shamain Nyamutswa The Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) dairy farmers are facing challenges in providing food for their cattle due to economic instability and inflation. This has left them unable to buy stock feeds leading to the high death rate of their livestock recently. Milk and milk products are being sold in local…
Mr. Munesushe Munodawafa, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism, and Hospitality industry has said that wetland loss and degradation cost the country millions of dollars. He was speaking at the Wetlands and Policy Guidelines Sensitisation Workshop held at the Cresta Churchill Hotel in Bulawayo yesterday. “It is important to note that…
The Green Climate Fund is positioned to achieve sustainable transformation through resilience building across the agricultural and environmental management value chain. The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, and Rural Resettlement, Climate Change Department, and UNDP Zimbabwe yesterday launched the Green Climate Fund (GCF) ‘Building Climate Resilience of Vulnerable Agricultural Livelihoods in Southern Zimbabwe project. …
A Greenpeace scientific report released today reveals that extreme weather events such as heatwaves, floods and intense rain are increasing in intensity, frequency and severity across many parts of Africa, gravely threatening human health, food security, peace, and biodiversity. Weather across sub-Saharan Africa has become more extreme and unpredictable in the twenty-first century, a trend that…
By John Wilson There’s a mistaken belief that keeps re-emerging that agroecology is about going backwards. It may be a convenient way to dismiss it. Nevertheless, how do we challenge and reverse this mistaken perspective? “If we don’t deepen our relationship with Nature and reconnect to our culture and history that are deeply embedded in…
By Charles Dhewa Livestock-based development interventions in many African countries have largely focused on replacing local breeds with imported ones. This is in spite of imported cattle, pigs, goats, and chickens struggling to survive in dry regions characterized by climate-induced shocks. The fact that most imported livestock breeds survive on specially designed commercial feed makes…
Despite being confronted by the adverse impacts of climate change and COVID-19, grassroots women are united in the fight for disaster mitigation, adaptation, recovery and resilience building. This emerged today at the 2020 Grassroots Women Resilience Building National Convention organised by the Zimbabwe Parents of Handicapped Children Association (ZPHCA). This year’s edition of the Resilience…
The Chivero Challenge is an international, multidisciplinary event that is advancing environmental preservation, sports recreation, tourism, health, and wellness as well as grassroots sport and recreation development. This was revealed by Mr I. Vambe, the Director of Recreation of the Sports and Recreation Commission in a speech delivered on behalf of Hon Kirsty Coventry, the…
Minister of Information Communication Technology (ICT), Postal and Courier Services, Hon. Dr. Jenfan Muswere commended NetOne for setting up a base station at Machongwe in Cyclone Idai hit Chimanimani while commissioning the facility on 30th October 2020. The Machongwe Base Station is set to revolutionize business, agriculture and enhance communication within the Manicaland Province and…
The Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry Hon Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndhlovu has called on stakeholders to prioritize gender inclusion in the climate change mainframe agenda. He made the remarks in his keynote address during the Opening Ceremony of the 9th Edition of the Africa Green Waste and Energy Expo and Conference (AGWEEC) in…
The African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group and the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to address persistent climate risks and scale up national disaster risk management and financing efforts. The MoU serves as a framework to facilitate cooperation and collaboration between ARC Group and the Government, and to…
They say empower a woman to empower the whole community. This statement is proving to be true through youthful female climate change champions who are doing wonders in their communities to adapt to and mitigate the phenomenon. In an interview with Spiked Online Media, Elizabeth Gulugulu Machache, the Project Manager of the African Youth Initiative…
The Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry, Hon Mangaliso Ndlovu has urged the youths to be innovative and craft ways of grabbing opportunities offered by the global threat of climate change. The Minister made the remarks at the Post Fifteenth Conference of Youth (COY 15) and the 25th Climate Change Conference of Parties…
By Anyway Yotamu The National Climate Policy recognizes that climate change is a real threat to the country’s socio-economic development with a potential of reversing hard-earned developmental gains achieved over the past decades hence the government urges the private sector to work closely with the responsible departments and apply for grants for the Green Climate…
The Global Landscapes Forum Biodiversity Conference will be held under the theme, ‘One World—One Health’ and will run on 28 and 29 October 2020 from 9 a.m. Bonn (UTC/GMT+1). WHAT: Halting biodiversity loss is essential to tackle the climate, food and global health crises, but how to turn ambitious green recovery pledges into concrete solutions that are feasible…
By Anyway Yotamu. The government has procured equipment to increase the national capacity for illegal wildlife trade control, integrated wildlife, anti-poaching, and woodland management of the Protected Area network under the Zambezi Valley Biodiversity Project. The government has procured various equipment for the project worth USD$12 million from the Global Environmental Fund (GEF) and the…
By Charles Dhewa While mobile phones and related technologies are being touted solutions to the absence of agricultural data in developing countries, such technologies are just tools not knowledge. Tools by themselves will not provide strategic solutions without knowledge. In fact, in the wrong hands, the tools may increase socio-economic inequalities in ways that further…
• In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and the mounting threat of climate change, forests and trees are vital for the rural poor in countries around the world• However, the poor are rarely able to capture the bulk of benefits from forests• A global science assessment analyses how forests can realize their potential to…
By Anyway Yotamu The Communist Party of China (CPC) has been hailed for its work in promoting the eradication of poverty and a massive decline of impoverished rural areas through government support methods. Addressing delegates at the International Seminar on Poverty Eradication and Responsibility of Political Parties hosted by the Communist Party of China virtually,…
By Transparency International We take forests for granted. We forget they’re the reason we breathe, until they burn. We don’t know of all the ways they keep us safe, until we’re sick. We ignore how our way of life threatens them, until they’re gone. Forests are not spared by corruption: illegal logging, illicit wildlife trade, land grabbing and drug…
The United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Antonio Guterres has said he was delighted by the decision of the Nobel Committee to award this year’s Prize for Peace to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The World Food Programme is the world’s first responder on the frontlines of food insecurity. Mr. Guterres said in a world…
Bernard Marr Tackling carbon emissions is one of the biggest challenges faced by the world today. For big business, this means making a strategic and managed move towards increasing the use of renewable energy sources, as well as creating efficiencies across all aspects of their operations. It’s a difficult task to manage alone, even for…
Concerned about the destruction of the environment and a dip in tourism around Lake Chivero, Gary Stafford, the Managing Director of Kuimbashiri Bird Sanctuary has come up with the Chivero Challenge to give a lifeline to the tourism giant in Zimbabwe. Introducing the concept during a press conference at Kuimba Shiri today, Stafford reminisced on…
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) yesterday commenced cash disbursements in the scale-up of the Urban Social Assistance programme thanks to funding from the United States through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID’s support will provide relief for vulnerable families in eight urban areas across Zimbabwe struggling to meet their daily…
The African Risk Capacity Limited (ARC Ltd), the commercial subsidiary of African Risk Capacity Group (ARC Group), has announced a partnership agreement with Pula to deliver best-in-class agriculture index insurance products to protect African farmers from climatic risks. Every farming season, African farmers are exposed to a wide range of climate risks including drought, excessive rainfall, pests…
The Zimbabwe Plant Breeders Association (ZPBA) and Agritex are promoting the “Good Quality Climate Smart Seeds and Blitz Soil Conditioning under the famous Pfumvudza/Intwasa Demonstration” program being spearheaded by the Ministry of Agriculture. On 17 September 2020, the Zimbabwe Plant Breeders Association (ZPBA) and AGRITEX hosted a field demonstration event in Ward 4, Mhondoro District….
By Anyway Yotamu Zimbabwe is a low-income country whose economy and livelihoods depend hugely on natural resources with an ambition to leapfrog it to a middle-income economy by 2030. The backbone sectors namely mining, manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism rely heavily on forest, land, and water resources for inputs to the production of goods and services….
The Bank is extending the funding under its Africa Disaster Risk Financing (ADRIFI) program to enable the country to take out a drought risk index-based insurance policy The African Development Bank’s (www.AfDB.org) Board on Wednesday approved a grant of $2.1 million to boost the country’s resilience against climate-related shocks and food insecurity. The funds, sourced…
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) This week’s instalment is on the clarion call for a people centred post-COVID-19 recovery plan. It is based on the speech by the Southern African People’s Solidarity Secretary General (SG), Janet Zhou that was delivered to the Society Talks: CSOs and outcomes from SADC People and Youth Summits…
Hosted by the African Development Bank at its headquarters in the Ivorian commercial capital, Abidjan, GCA Africa will work with partners across the continent African leaders welcomed the opening of a regional office of the Global Center on Adaptation on Wednesday, voicing hopes it will spur the continent’s efforts to combat climate change. In speeches…
Honourable Mangaliso Ndlovu, the Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry has urged stakeholders to reflect and take action against the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer. He made the call today, the 16th of September 2020, on the occasion to mark the 33rd anniversary of the signing of the Montreal Protocol on substances…
Today, the World Bank released the Next Generation Africa Climate Business Plan (NG-ACBP), which sets out a blueprint to help Sub-Saharan African economies achieve low carbon and climate-resilient outcomes. The Plan calls for countries to seize the opportunity to scale-up climate resilience to grow their economies and reduce poverty, redouble efforts to increase energy access…
The first round of consultations for the climate change national adaptation planning was kicked off in Harare today, drawing representatives from the government, academia, the private sector, traditional leaders, vulnerable groups, and the media. In his opening remarks at the National Adaptation Planning – Monitoring, Reviewing and Reporting System Theory of Change Workshop for the…
Yesterday, popular musician, Mukudzei Mukombe aka Jah Prayzah posted on his Twitter handle that he had purchased a residential stand at Pokugara Estate in Borrowdale, Harare. “We have made up our mind, my wife and I have decided to purchase this piece of land at Pokugara Residential Estate in Borrowdale. I will continue to show…
Climate adaptation and resilience projects are continuing to help some of the most vulnerable communities on Earth, despite the impact of the coronavirus. “We are facing one of the largest challenges in generations with the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Adaptation Fund manager Mikko Ollikainen. “We see Adaptation Fund projects adapting directly to help with the crisis,…
The African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group, a pan-African disaster risk management institution, organized a conference in Dakar yesterday during which the new Group Director-General, and United Nations Assistant Secretary-General (UN-ASG), Mr. Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, and the CEO of ARC Limited, Mr. Lesley Ndlovu presented the institution, its strategy, its areas of activity and its impact…
The government has announced that mining on areas held by National Parks is banned with immediate effect as steps are being undertaken to immediately cancel all mining title held in National Parks. This comes as a relief amidst reports that two mining companies namely Zhongxin Coal Mining Group and Afrochine Smelting allegedly received permission from the…
AGRF online will convene the most senior decision-makers of governments in the same digital space as grassroots players along the agricultural value chain The African Development Bank (https://www.AfDB.org/en) returns as a top-tier partner of the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) – Africa’s largest agriculture conference – to be held online for the first time from…
By Habakkuk Trust National Parks officials gunned down three buffalos in Bulilima District yesterday in a bid to drive them away from human settlements. Buffalos herd reportedly numbering over a 100, invaded Makhulela, Huwana, and Khame areas and have been roaming close to human settlements for the past three days. Parks officials in the company of a…
Enzymes that control a plant’s response to lower oxygen levels could be manipulated to make vital crops resistant to the impacts of flooding triggered by climate change, new research shows. Co-author Mark White, PhD, in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney described climate change as a major global issue, particularly for its…
The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has said illegal mining activities are widespread across the country especially in the rural provinces, and it’s affecting the nation in a number of ways. It is estimated that there are over 1, 5 million small scale illegal gold panners across the country operating in rivers, plantations, grazing areas, fields,…
