Zim commemorates World Environment Day
ZIMBABWE joins the rest of the world in commemorating World Environment Day tomorrow. It is an environmental awareness day, run by the United Nations which is also known as Eco Day or Environment Day. The day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, UN’s first major conference on international environmental issues, which marked a turning point in the development of international environmental politics. It was first commemorated in 1974.
The aim of the day is to raise awareness on the environment and specific environmental issues. It also urges people to become active advocates for sustainable and equitable living, to promote awareness and an understanding that communities play a central role in changing
attitudes towards environmental issues.
The global theme for the 2021 World Environment Day is Ecosystem Restoration. The United Nations General Assembly has declared the years 2021 through to 2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The decade coincides with the deadline for the sustainable development goals and the timeline scientists have identified critical for avoiding the worst impacts of climate change.
The decade is designed to prevent, halt and reverse the loss and degradation of ecosystems worldwide. A global call to action, the UN Decade draws together political support, scientific research, and financial muscle to massively scale up restoration.
The UN Decade is intended to massively scale up the restoration of degraded and destroyed ecosystems to fight the climate crisis, prevent the loss of a million species and enhance food security water supply and livelihoods. Reviving natural carbon sinks — such as forests and peatlands — could help close the climate emissions gap by 25% by 2030.
Replanting with native tree species can also help buffer some of the expected devastating effects of a warming planet, such as increased risk of forest fires. Currently, 3,2 billion people — 40% of the world’s population — suffer from the continued degradation of ecosystems by losing access to fertile soil or safe drinking water.
Local theme
Zimbabwe is commemorating the day under the theme Strong Location Institutions — Key to Sustainable Ecosystem Restoration.
The theme is in line with the 2021 global focus on ecosystem restoration, with a special focus on creating a good relationship with nature, hence the need to build capacity in local communities for sustainable environmental management. This also comes handy for Zimbabwe which is battling with several environmental challenges which include bush encroachment, surface water body siltation, severe gulley erosion, massive deforestation, and invasive alien species infestation. Therefore, this gives the community the window to identify opportunities for ecosystem restoration and also learn from what other communities are doing.
This year’s thrust hinges on ecosystems restoration highlighting activities/projects being implemented by various communities, businesses, institutions, and civil society in order to protect and conserve nature/ biodiversity/ecosystems. The national commemoration will be held at Gala Primary School in Bulilima district, Matabeleland South province.