Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has commended Cabinet for its approval of the production of a masterplan of all ecologically sensitive areas in the country.

The organisation’s Environmental Education and Publicity Manager, Ms Amkela Sidange said such an initiative would act as an administrative tool to guide planning authorities and the public on sustainable wetland management nationwide.

She said the mapping exercise was being carried out by EMA in partnership with various stakeholders which include, the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) and Zimbabwe National Geo-Spatial Agency (ZIMSA).

“This comes against a background of a lot of information gathering that we have been doing over the years, all in an effort to promote sustainability in the management of these vital ecosystems,” said Ms Sidange.

“As part of our operations, we do regular environmental inventories and audits from which we identify major natural resources the country is endowed with”.

She added that the mapping exercise will help them to create a body of information concerning several environmental parameters and to establish the status of wetlands in the country. Ms Sidange said in 2009, they created a wetlands database and produced maps and an inventory of national natural resources for all rural provinces.

Information, she said was also shared with relevant stakeholders, and used to compile a report on the status of wetlands in the country. This information was also included in EMA’s State of the Environment report, which they do every five years.

“A National Wetland policy and Guidelines for the Management of Wetland Ecosystems in Zimbabwe have since been produced and both are now going through final stages of consultation and earmarked for approval soon,” said Ms Sidange.

All the mentioned processes, she said, were built on stakeholder consultation in line with current environmental management.

“Therefore, following the pronouncement by President Mnangagwa, we are working together with all the relevant stakeholders, and the team is seized with the matter at hand and is giving it the urgency it deserves.

“We will start off with the mapping of urban local authorities, growth points, rural service centres, and all the rural districts,” said Ms Sidange.

She said they already had baseline data they generated over time and now they were verifying and updating that data.

Ms Sidange said they will also make use of relevant technology for the purpose of precision and scientific backup.

“The team is ready to deliver as per the pronouncement by the President,” she added. @tupeyo