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Writes Elvis Dumba
Chinhoyi – Women who constitute at least sixty percent of the country’s population have been challenged to take a leading role in offering solutions to plastic pollution.
This was said by Tecla Mupandaguta, the Humanitarian Cluster Chairperson of Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe, Mashonalnd West during a belated Provincial World Environment Day commemorations held in Chinhoyi.
“As WCOZ we seek to promote women’s rights, gender equality, sustainable communities, and action against climate change that is pivotal to creating a sustainable community for young girls and women.
“As women let us desist from actions that lead to plastic pollution such as littering and burning of plastics. Women contribute to 60% of Zimbabwe’s population hence our actions contribute much to plastic pollution. Therefore, there is need for us to join hands and work towards implementing solutions of eradicating plastic pollution.
“It is of paramount importance to note that if we throw our plastics everywhere, it will lead to the clogging of drainages and this will result in the damage of road networks and floods due to poor drainage systems,” she said.
Mupandaguta said plastic pollution-related challenge also fuels gender-based violence against women.
“Clogged drains also provide a breeding ground for waterborne diseases such as cholera and malaria. If we get sick from the above-mentioned diseases, it will result in us wanting money for medication and sometimes this leads to GBV cases because of lack of financial stability.
“We encourage women in participating and having knowledge on how to eradicate plastic solutions. We encourage women to practice waste separation from household level.”
Mupandaguta urged women to engage in waste recycling projects as a source of income for women’s self-sufficiency, and empowerment towards women’s rights.
Mashonaland West Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Mary Mliswa- Chikoka in a speech read on her behalf by Provincial Permanent Secretary Josphat Jaji, called upon local authorities to invest in environmentally and recycling friendly dump-sites.
“Local authorities should have investments into waste management such as dump sites that promote recycling and landfills so that we end challenges of environmental pollution,” she said.
The commemoration was jointly hosted by Wcoz, Municipality of Chinhoyi, Environmental Management Agency, and community-based organisations involved in waste management and ran under the theme “Solutions for plastic pollution”.
In an environmental-related matter, this publication discovered that the provincial Environmental Management Agency has received only four million Zimbabwe dollars for addressing veld fire challenges this season in the province which is just a drop in the ocean.