Published by the government of Zimbabwe
31 December 2008
Harare — LOCAL authorities in Zimbabwe should allow residents to plant trees on open spaces for use as firewood and to curb deforestation, an expert said yesterday.
Forestry Commission information and communications manager Mr Abednigo Marufu said urban councillors should mobilise residents in their areas to plant trees on open spaces such as around recreation parts and along streets and avenues.
"Councils should allocate pieces of land for people to plant wood lots for use as energy," he said.
There has been an increase in indiscriminate cutting down of trees in most urban areas in Zimbabwe due to frequent electricity outages.
Mr Marufu said local authorities should also set aside pieces of land to establish woodlots which they would harvest and sell to residents to prevent indiscriminate cutting down of trees. In the past, the Forestry Commission owned woodlots which it harvested and sold to residents.
The woodlots were handed over to local authorities, most of who either failed to sustain them or used them for residential purposes, resulting in their disappearance.
Mr Marufu said following the increase in demand for firewood, the Commission was promoting revival of the woodlots as a way of curbing deforestation in urban areas.
He said the Commission was working with all urban councils in the country to revive the woodlots and manage them properly for sustainable utilisation.
In Harare, Mr Marufu said the Commission had assisted council to re-establish an 80-hectre woodlot in Dzivarasekwa high density where 20 hectares were planted this year.
Mr Marufu said the Commission expected to plant 20 hectares at the woodlot over the next five years.
Before the advent of power outages, the Commission focused on rural areas where it promoted tree planting to curb deforestation and environmental degradation.
Trees are important for carbon sequestration as well as preventing soil erosion. Deforestation is causing the phenomenon of climate change throughout the world whose adverse effects include food shortages associated with droughts, flooding and shifts in agricultural seasons.
New Ziana
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Can it get any stupider?? be a very long time before you get firewood from newly planted tree's, why do you think the damage is being done to old trees!
What the people should do is get the ELECTRICITY GOING IT TAKES 7 YEARS TO GROW A TREE PLSE USE YOUR HEAD!!