THE First Family put the icing on what can be termed a successful year for the environment and tourism sectors, when they launched the National Tree Planting season in Chinhoyi.
President Robert Mugabe planted a ficus ingens or Red-leaved Rock fig tree, Mutsamvi /Inkiwane while the First Lady, Amai Grace Mugabe planted a Mukanga tree.
The tree is known to enhance milk production in cows while the Mukanga tree has medicinal properties.
This year’s tree planting season theme is ‘Forests for water and life’.
The year was eventful with 2013 declared the Year of ‘water co-operation’ by the United Nations.
President Mugabe said the country will continue to plant trees which play a critical role in water conservation.
Massive deforestation in the country has negatively impacted on rainfall patterns.
Communities are now walking longer distances to get firewood.
According to UN statistics 1,3 billion people in the world have no access to energy and two million deaths occur every year due to lack of energy.
The Forestry Commission and various stakeholders that include Nyaradzo’s Friends of the Environment, Mbada Diamonds and Environment Africa, among others have continuously been engaging various communities to ensure that at least 10 million trees are planted annually.
Significant strides have been made by various organisations to ensure communities are conscious of the importance of protecting forests and planting trees.
The tourism sector recorded notable successes that are to further boost the growth of the industry whose fortunes are on the rise.
Zimbabwe and Zambia successfully co-hosted the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) General Assembly in Victoria Falls endorsing the two destinations.
The West’s attempt to make the assembly a none-event was futile as the world descended in the region for the event.
Critical stakeholders in international tourism were in attendance and expressed admiration for the products on offer in both countries.
Most importantly many, especially from Europe got to see the real story of Zimbabwe and that the country is peaceful and has a high quality tourism product.
The assembly significantly altered the perspective on Zimbabwe.
The event marked a rebirth of the country, tourism-wise, and confirmed the country as a safe tourist destination.
Already fruits of the event are being enjoyed as numbers of arrivals in the country continue to increase.
That successful hosting of UNWTO resulted in an increase in the number of exhibitors at the annual Sanganai/Hlanganai World Travel Tourism and Africa Fair which saw at least 1 400 exhibitors and 90 buyers attending.
International media from Italy, Iran, India, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Namibia, South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Malawi, among others were part of the expo whose theme was ‘Celebrating Africa’s cultural diversity.’
According to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, deals worth between US$280 and US$300 million dollars were realised at the fair.
Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa RETOSA’s director marketing and communications Kwakye Danker hailed the infrastructure in the country and region.
“There is great diversity in the region because it is easy to move from the beach to the bush,” he said.
“There is abundance of resources which meet the needs of our markets.
“We must therefore promote multi-country packaging because from Cape to Cairo, the choice is unlimited as there are 39 world heritage sites in the 15 countries.”
This year also saw the appointment of new Minister of Environment, Water and Climate Saviour Kasukuwere and his Deputy Minister Engineer Simon Musanhu to a ministry formerly called Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management headed by Minister Francis Nhema who is now the minister of Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Development.
The newly appointed ministers immediately got to work as they were forced to respond and address the unfortunate and tragic ecological disaster at the Hwange National Park in which over 100 elephants and other species were killed after being poisoned by cyanide.
This led to the formation of the Wildlife Ecological Trust which saw stakeholders such as Mbada Diamonds, ZIMOCO, Econet Wireless and Steward Bank among others fundraising for the anti-poaching cause.
The move was the much needed cooperation between government and the business sector.
It saw Mbada Diamonds donating 20 Land Rover vehicles, worth US$ 1 million, for anti-poaching patrols at the Hwange National Park.
Econet Wireless pledged to set a satellite tracking system while ZIMOCO will also donate vehicles.
Other environmental stakeholders donated money, tents and pledged to rehabilitate boreholes at the Hwange National Park.
The year comes to a close with notable achievements, but with more still needing to be done to ensure that the environment is protected and the tourism sector continues to grow.
Of significance in the year was the importance of cooperation by the various sectors.
May the cooperation continue and support increase to protect our assets for future generations.