Concern over biodiversity targets

THE Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) committee in Manicaland has raised concerns that it may fail to meet set targets by 2020.

The CBD is a multilateral treaty whose objective is to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.

Speaking on the sidelines of the CBD meeting in Mutare last week, Ministry of Environment Tourism and Hospitality Industry deputy director, Mr Abu Matiza said poverty and lack of funding were major factors in biodiversity loss in Zimbabwe’s ecosystems.

He said this had led to unsustainable exploitation of the country’s natural resources and that stakeholders were facing various threats which need to be ameliorated to preserve biodiversity.

Mr Matiza said the lack of adequate funding was hindering them from meeting their targets before the deadlines.

“We developed our strategies using existing budgets that were supposed to be executed by local authorities, various Government departments and non-governmental organisations,” he said.

The committee’s acting co-ordinator of fresh water and fisheries, Dr Crispen Phiri said Zimbabwe had successfully developed policies and strategies to conserve biodiversity, but implementation of identified actions has been slow due to inadequate financial resources.