Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu
THE destruction of trees by veld fires and deliberate actions of irresponsible people has resulted in desert-threatening conditions in many parts of Zimbabwe.

That has led to adverse climatic conditions such as drought because in the absence of trees, moisture-laden wind blows unhindered past such naked regions, carrying its moisture away with it.

However, in thickly forested regions, such wind is deflected upwards where the moisture condenses into clouds and falls as rain.

The first Saturday of December is Zimbabwe’s National Tree Planting Day, an occasion when several national leaders plant and urge communities to conserve and plant trees.

One of the factors that are causing the much discussed climatic change is certainly the wanton destruction of trees across vast regions of the world.

This was aptly explained by the First Lady, Cde Grace Mugabe at a Murehwa rally last Saturday when she strongly advised the nation to conserve trees.

She explained how adverse climatic changes could be the result of the wanton destruction of trees, a practice that has dangerously negative effects on the world’s environment and human life.

Cde Mugabe urged people to replace every tree they chop down with 10, a measure that can reverse deforestation in areas that have been deprived of trees.

Reckless cutting down and burning of trees in many regions of Zimbabwe has created virtual deserts in those areas.

We shall discuss the effects of this in the African continental context later in this article.

Meanwhile, a look at the practical importance of trees to the human race shows the following:
– Trees provide people with poles for construction purposes.
– Trees provide people with fuel in the form of charcoal and raw firewood,
– Trees provide people with shade against the sun, especially in regions where heat waves are a regular seasonal occurrence;
– Trees provide people with furniture-making material;
– Some trees have medicinal value to some members of various communities;
– Some trees are ornamental;
– Trees in general purify the air, making it healthier for the maintenance of human life,
– Some tree produce highly nutritious fruits and barks. In some cases, they even produce leaves, some of these are used to produce beverages;
– Some trees are used as means of transport across rivers, lakes, dams and seas.

An analysis of some of the above uses of trees indicates that while some benefit probably only individuals such as “shades”, furniture-making trees are of national socio-economic importance in that they create articles of material comforts such as beds, tables, chairs, benches, desks, cupboards and cabinets.

Economically, a nation endowed with the right type of trees such as mahogany, teak, eucalyptus and mukwa can generate employment and create an industry that can effectively contribute to its economy, particularly its export earnings.

The construction industry should be understood not only in terms of urban development, but also in the context of rural home construction where poles are used for the building of granaries, huts, fences, pigsties, cattle kraals and goat pens.

In addition to the above, trees are also used for the building of classrooms, teachers’ residences, toilets and clinics.

Cultural halls such as churches in the rural areas also have a large component of timber. That should remind us of the biblical temple of King Solomon whose timber parts were from the forests of Lebanon.

Today those forests are virtually gone. Lebanon is certainly poorer for the lack of those forests.

Medicinal trees are helpful to human beings, livestock, including chickens and dogs. Many medicines, particularly suppressant and expectorant cough remedies, are derived from some trees, their barks, leaves or roots.

This is a fact that is always highlighted by members of the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (Zinatha).

Although we do not as yet know how old the Sahara, the world’s largest desert is, archaeologists have discovered that at one time the area was covered by a huge forest.

We also have scientific evidence that in the remote past, the Bantu (Banhu) lived in forests on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, before the area became a desert, and were then pushed further south to a much more forested region by unknown factors or forces.

It is, however, clear that life is by far much easier where there are plentiful plants and trees than in a barren desert.

So, each time we cut down a tree, we should try to replace it with at least 10 whenever that is possible, as was wisely counselled by Amai Mugabe.

It can greatly help the country if the tree planting programme was taken more seriously than is presently the case. That can be done by carrying it out at ward level and under the guidance of Members of Parliament, councillors, district administrators, chiefs, headmen and village heads.

The tree planting project could be a department of the Ministry of either Agriculture or that of Environmental Affairs, but preferably that of Agriculture.

Each ward can be required to plant at least 10,000 trees yearly in an area demarcated for the project. Once the area is full, another area can be identified.

MPs and councillors would be expected to monitor the process, something that could give them a very good opportunity to develop their respective constituencies.

Urban constituencies can be treated with inevitable variations from rural ones for obvious reasons. How that can be done would depend on the physical geography and size of the urban constituency concerned.

The type of trees to be planted would be decided upon by scientists such as the soil experts at Lupane State University.

The United States of America had something more or less similar to this suggestion from the 1930s to 1942. It launched a number of tree planting projects but stopped it in 1942 when it joined the Second World War.

Zimbabwe can certainly enhance its national tree planting programme by taking it vigorously down to the grassroots, the ward, where the country’s local leadership could feel a sense of ownership of such projects.

Meanwhile, each school should have its own project which is enlarged annually by the addition of a given number of trees. Some of the sites chosen for such projects can be those threatened by soil erosion, using the planted trees for land reclamation.

Again, MPs and councillors, working closely with each ward’s traditional leadership under the guidance of the district administrators and the appropriate ministry’s personnel, can make tree planting a short-term Zim-Asset employment creating and long term economic development project.

While all this is taking place, MPs, councillors, village heads, headmen and chiefs should urge every village to plant a couple of fruit trees such as matamba (ukhemeswane, umhlali), mazhanji (amahobohobo), oranges, lemons, apples and even marula (mipfula amaganu), nyi and mikwakwa (imihwahwa)

Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu is a retired, Bulawayo-based journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734 328 136 or through email. [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.