Published by the government of Zimbabwe
11 January 2008
Harare — The Zimbabwe Government has started receiving enquiries from investors in industrialised countries that want to accrue greenhouse gases emissions credits under the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, an official said this week.
Climate change national co-ordinator Mr Washington Zhakata said this while commenting on benefits the country stood to derive from ratifying the Kyoto Protocol.
"We have started receiving enquiries for Cleaner Development Mechanism projects mostly in the energy sector," he said.
"Enquiries started coming before and after we ratified the protocol."
The Kyoto Protocol is an offshoot of the UNFCCC, which heads of state and government attending the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in March 1992 signed to provide a general arena for tackling climate change.
After realising that there was need for specific action to tackle the phenomenon, countries agreed to sign a treaty to the convention, which they did in Kyoto, Japan, in November 1992.
The protocol sets down legally binding commitments for industrialised countries to limit or reduce emissions of six categories of heat-trapping gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, by at least 5 percent below their 1990 levels in the commitment period 2008 to 2012.
Adverse effects of changes in climate over the years include extreme temperatures that have caused droughts in many African countries, shifts in seasonal rainfall patterns which are affecting farming activities, flooding, emergence of microbial diseases and increased burden of waterborne diseases such as malaria and cholera.
Under the Cleaner Development Mechanisms of the protocol, industrialised countries, which were given targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, can accrue emissions reduction credits through channelling financial assistance to developing countries to implement energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, in addition to transferring environmentally sound technologies.
Mr Zhakata said some local players in the timber industry were discussing with potential investors to implement mini-hydroelectricity projects to alleviate power shortages being experienced in the country.
He said the industry would use electricity from the mini-hydro plants and sell the excess to the national power utility, Zesa.
Investors had also expressed interest in implementing aforestation and reforestation projects in such areas as Murehwa, Mutoko and Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe in Mashonaland Central Province, he said.
Other projects investors had expressed interest in included capturing methane gas from liquid waste from sewerage treatment works for use in generating electricity, and compressing sawdust to produce briquettes that rural communities could use for cooking in place of firewood which produces carbon dioxide.
"It has been proved that the briquettes produce more energy, burn for a longer period and produce less carbon dioxide," said Mr Zhakata, adding that such projects assisted in preventing the cutting-down of trees.
Local timber producer Border Timbers has since acquired a machine to produce the briquettes as a pilot project.
Aforestation and reforestation have been identified among measures to mitigate climate change as trees contribute in reducing air pollution through using up carbon dioxide during photosynthesis and producing oxygen in the process.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, a system has been developed to measure the amount of carbon dioxide in that countries as well as private companies would save through implementing energy efficient projects.
The saved carbon dioxide would be sold to industrialised countries that want to accrue emissions reduction credits.
With a tonne of saved carbon dioxide currently selling at between five and seven euros, Zimbabwe, with its huge plantations of exotic and indigenous trees as well as vast tracts of land, could earn large amounts of foreign currency from selling carbon credits.
Mr Zhakata dismissed fears that developing countries risked compromising their development in order to qualify for funds that industrialised countries have mobilised under the Kyoto Protocol.
Concerns had been raised that developing countries risked lagging behind in development while concentrating on complying with provisions of the protocol.
The Zimbabwe Parliament on December 6 last year voted unanimously to approve ratification of the protocol, paving way for the country to start contributing to global efforts to deal with the challenges of climate change. -- New Ziana.
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