‘Opposition destroyed Harare wetlands’
HALF of Harare’s wetlands were lost in the last two decades due to illegal parcelling out of stands by successive MDC councillors in cahoots with land barons, a report has revealed.
The stunning revelation are contained in a report “Harare’s Wetlands” that was prepared by Dr Rob Cunliffe and also buttressed by a survey carried out by the Harare Residents’ Trust director, Precious Shumba.
In the summary of the report, Dr Cunliffe said it was unfortunate that the wanton destruction of the wetlands by the culprits was continuing.
“The widespread destruction of headwater wetlands is one of the primary causes of this disaster, with an estimated 50 percent reduction in remaining wetland extent over the period 2008- 2019,” he said. “In addition, most remaining wetland areas are now heavily degraded.
“During the two-year period from mid/ late 2019 to 2021, analysis of Google Earth imagery reveals development activities being carried out on over 2 000 different sites within the remaining extent of wetlands as mapped during early 2020.”
Dr Cunliffe said Harare was facing a prolonged water crisis whereby the city authorities were unable to provide most residents with safe and reliable water supply.
He said this forced many residents to use groundwater which in turn is leading to declining of groundwater levels across the city.
Dr Cunliffe said the headwater wetlands served as essential natural infrastructure and played a key role in the delivery of clean water to the downstream water supply dams.
“In recent decades, development has been allowed to encroach ever deeper into these headwater wetland areas, to disastrous effect,” he said. “This has led to increased run- off, increased incidences of flooding, increased siltation of Lake Chivero and Lake Manyame, reduced recharge of groundwater, a reduced period of inflow to the supply dams, and reduced quality of water arriving in the supply dams.”
He said there had been a loss of biodiversity and a reduction in open and recreational spaces across the city.
“The net effect is increased vulnerability to climate change to the direct detriment of current and future generations,” he said. “For these reasons, the ongoing conversion of wetlands to infrastructure cannot be considered compatible with “wise use” of wetlands, nor with sustainable development of the city.”
Many developments, Dr Cunliffe said, were proceeding without necessary authorisations while permits were often issued without following due procedures and only regularised later.
“Loopholes in legislation are exploited to enable the issuing of environmental and development permits and, in cases where permits are declined, these decisions are frequently overturned through appeal to the Minister,” he said.
Dr Cunliffe said work needed to begin to restore wetlands to their natural state.
“There is a need to develop models for the future management of wetlands under private ownership as well as for buying back wetlands and placing these under sound longterm curatorship,” he said.
“For cases where settlements have developed in particularly floodprone areas, there will be a need to develop a best practice model to enable the relocation of such settlements to alternative safe spaces.
“The use of financial incentives to encourage voluntary relocation from wetland environments could also be explored. There is also an urgent need to plan how to accommodate future expansion of the city without compromising the vital wetland ecosystem on which the city depends for its water supply.”
Harare Residents’ Trust director, Mr Shumba, said it was worrying that corrupt councillors and council officials were at the forefront of issuing residential and commercial stands on wetlands.