Staff Writer
The Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, Sithembiso Nyoni, has called for the need for authorities to take decisive measures to protect the environment and bolster the country’s resilience in the face of a changing climate.
Addressing a Joint Induction Workshop for the Portfolio Committee on Environment, Climate and Tourism and Thematic Committee on Climate Change, Nyoni noted the disruptive impact of climate change, calling for the urgency of climate action in the country.
“As a result of climate change, seasons have shifted, rainfall is no longer reliable, and there is an incessant increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events amongst many other things. This calls for government to put in place measures to protect the environment and trigger real climate action with potential to help people to adapt and build climate resilience,” she said.
The Minister added that as part of the global movement, Zimbabwe joined other countries to ratify the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement.
Following the ratification, Nyoni said the government is working on strengthening policy and institutional frameworks on climate change as part of the domestication process.
She said some of the policies, strategies, guiding frameworks and pieces of legislation that have been put in place include the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the National Development Strategy, the National Climate Policy and the National Climate Change Response Strategy.
The Minister also highlighted the Long-Term Low Emissions Development Strategy, the Nationally Determined Contribution and its Implementation Plan and Investment Framework to be launched soon, the Carbon Credit Framework and its Carbon Credit Trading (General) Regulations, 2023.
The National Climate Policy adopted by the government in 2017 seeks to create a pathway towards a climate-resilient and low-carbon development economy in which people have enough adaptive capacity and continue to develop in harmony with the environment.
She said under the Paris Agreement, countries communicate their greenhouse gas emissions reduction commitments through the Nationally Determined Contributions after every five years with each submission reflecting increased ambition from the previous one.
Zimbabwe communicated its revised Nationally Determined Contributions committing to an economy-wide 40% per capita emission reduction target by 2030.
Sectors covered under the target are agriculture, forestry and other land use, waste, industrial processes and product use and energy.
The workshop signifies Zimbabwe’s proactive approach to climate change. The newly established committees will play a crucial role in overseeing the implementation of these critical policies and ensuring Zimbabwe builds resilience in a rapidly changing climate.
