Zimbabwe today joins the rest of the universe mark the World Forestry Day (WFD) set out by the United Nations General Assembly and recognised March 21 each year to raise awareness about the importance of forest restoration.
Trees were once treated as sacred entities, but are now being destroyed in the name of urbanisation. There’s no limit to how much humans take from nature without giving back.
The concept of World Forestry Day was coined in 1971 and turned into an annual event in 2012.
The theme of the International Day of Forests for 2021 is “Forest restoration: a path to recovery and well-being.” The restoration and sustainable management of forests can help in addressing the issues related to climate change and biodiversity.
Unsustainable fuel wood utilisation patterns are driving deforestation world over.
Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe rural communities meet 94% of their cooking energy requirements by using traditional fuels, mainly fuel wood, and 20% of urban households use wood as the main cooking fuel.
With the country’s economy on the downward spiral, the nexus between poverty and environment degradation had been noted.
In most cases the poor turn to environmental exploitation as the sole source of meeting their day to day needs.
Estimates are that deforestation has been high in the country, peaking at 330,000 hectares of forests destroyed between 2010 and 2014.
-Zwnews
