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Urgent need to save forests

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THE meteorological department has announced that the 2014-15 rain season is now over.
This could be another drought season as rains disappeared at a time people needed them most and the sudden disappearance of the rains adversely affected the crops.
Zimbabwe is slowly being affected by climate change.
Not so long ago, people could almost predict the weather pattern, but there has been a shift in these patterns.
As Zimbabwe commemorates International Day of Forests, there is urgent need for behaviour change in order to lessen the acceleration of the effects of climate change.
Some parts of Manicaland and Mashonaland Provinces no longer have forests to talk about because of tobacco farming.
In an interview, Forestry Commission, deputy general manager, conservation and extension, Abednico Marufu said deforestation contributed immensely to the changing climate hence as a commission, they had increased awareness programmes in order to encourage people to plant more trees in order to replace the ones that have been lost.
“We have scaled awareness programmes and encouraging people to plant trees to replace those that have been lost and from 2012 we have planted 12 million trees,” he said.
“The Gum tree that grows faster is the one that is being grown in tobacco growing areas as flue-cured tobacco production consumes substantial amounts of wood.
“The destruction of forests commences from land clearing for tobacco farming purposes where virgin land is involved, harvesting of poles and sticks for barn construction right up to the curing process itself because it grows faster, easing pressure on the demand of indigenous trees.”
Marufu said emphasis was being put on the conservation of indigenous trees which take longer to grow.
He said there was need for Government and prominent people to help fight deforestation and applauded traditional leaders for their efforts to curb the cutting of trees.
Traditional leaders use the Traditional Leaders’ Act (Cap 29:17) and traditional norms and values to manage forests.
Marufu said the commission was still facing challenges of firewood vendors who cut wood for resale in the process causing intense damage to the forests.
Deforestation is a major driver of degradation.
It leaves the land bare, making it susceptible to various forms of erosion.
Statistics at hand show that the country is losing 330 000 hectares annually because of deforestation
The Forestry Commission specialises in the conservation of gazetted and non-gazetted forests and the country’s vegetation.
The legal instruments used to control deforestation are the Forest Act (Chapter 19:05) and the Communal Land Forest Produce Act (Chapter 19:04).
These acts are administered by the Forestry Commission.
They make it an “offence to cut, injure, remove, and collect any forest produce without authority and to move firewood from one place to another without a timber movement permit issued by the Forestry Commission.”
Section 4 of the Communal Land Forest Produce Act, allows inhabitants of communal land (and by implication, those in A1 and similar model resettlement areas) to exploit forest produce for own use, (not for commercial purposes).
Section 55 of the Forest Act requires that any removal of indigenous trees must be preceded by a notification to the Forestry Commission before removal, subjecting such forest resource to State control.
In addition to the two main Acts cited above, the Forestry Commission also makes use of Statutory Instrument 116 of 2012 which is the Forest (Control of Firewood, Timber and Forest Produce) Regulations 2012.
This Statutory Instrument controls the movement and trade in both wood and timber in the country and has special emphasis on encouraging the production of flue-cured tobacco on a sustainable basis.
Forests are vital for life, home to millions of species.
They protect soil from erosion, produce oxygen, store carbon dioxide, and help control climate.
Forests are also vital as they provide food, shelter and medicines as well as many other useful things.
They also purify breathing air and water needed to survive.
Deforestation is causing all of these necessary functions to be lessened, and hence damaging the atmosphere even further.

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