Zimbabwe: Murewa RDC – Greening Murewa-restoration of the carbon sink

Over the past five years, council embarked on an ambitious district- wide afforestation and reforestation programme. The initiative was construed as a way to militate against the debilitating effects of deforestation. The wanton cutting down of trees throughout the thirty administrative wards was observed as a direct effect of socio-economic challenges and general lack of knowledge on issues of sustainable development, specifically the green agenda. The initiative was also driven by the need to localise interventions to mitigate against the negative impacts of climate change. Ecological integrity from which rural livelihoods entirely depended was severely compromised as a result. Murewa Rural District Council therefore resolved to take proactive measures to re-vegetate the degraded landscapes with full participation from beneficiary communities. Communal woodlots were established in all the thirty wards while schools were also engaged to participate in a tree growing and tree care competition of indigenous fruit trees.

The project set to restore the ecological integrity of degraded lands for the benefit of local communities. By that the project aimed to fight against the impacts of climate change by re-vegetation and appreciating the ecological function of trees in the hydrological cycle. The above was achieved by fostering a sense of ownership and stewardship of common property resources by local communities. It was done through the Primary Environmental Care (PEC) model. Communities were educated on the pillars of sustainable development that had conservation and preservation as common property resources. The local communities awakened to the reality that climate change was indeed a reality and not a myth. Everyone had a role to play for the benefit of the local, national, regional and international community. The project unlocked socio- economic opportunities within communities through availing of livelihood options obtained in natural resource utilisation. The community enhanced the aesthetic face of degraded landscapes. The project sought to highlight the protection and enhancement of indigenous knowledge systems through the conservation and preservation of forests.

The participants created a base line for environmental audits whereby local communities could create their own resource inventories then monitored and evaluated resource utilization. The project facilitated a chance for research and development on the ecological and economic values of multifarious tree species. To compliment all the above efforts at national level, specifically the Forestry Commission instilled the philosophy among the citizenry that a tree today would a forest in future. That gave a clear answer to the clarion call of the creation of cleaner and green cities and environments. The project was highly consultative and participatory. Motions to establish communal woodlots were moved at ward level for all the 30 administrative wards. The ward recommendations were approved by the full council. The council started gum tree nursery plantations, Kenyan Krotton and lots of indigenous tree species nurseries.

Some communities like Mushinga Village came up with some indigenous tree seedlings. The Forestry Commission officials came with the soil sampling expertise to find the right types of indigenous trees suitable for particular types of soils. The different communities were tasked with the protection and safety of the tree seedlings and nurseries. The council only had a supervisory role with the help of ward councillors and village heads. In order to spread the concept of growing indigenous tree species, especially indigenous fruit trees, it became paramount to include an expenditure vote to that effect in Council’s financial plans. It meant that there was to be a schools’ tree growing and tree care competitions of indigenous trees. Schools confirmed their participation in the competition in writing during the 1st term of a calendar year and judging was done in the 3rd term of the same calendar year by the Council and Forestry Commission officials. Prizes are awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd best projects. Indigenous fruit trees had always been revered for nutritional/medicinal values.

6 500 (65%) women directly benefitted with 3 500 (35%) men directly benefitting as well. There were 45 000 (60%) indirect women beneficiaries as compared to 30 000 (40%) men. Online beneficiaries were still to be recorded. Direct and indirect women beneficiaries had a total figure of 51 500 (61%) whilst their male counterparts were 33 500 (39%). The overall beneficiaries were 85 000. The resources allocated to this project amounted to $4 000. Gender specific allocation had a budget of $2 000. Gender in mainstream projects was allocated $1 500. Some donations came in cash and kind and amounted to $500. The donation in kind comprised of poly packets which were used for nursery establishments and transport costs to the various administrative wards.

A model school, Hurungwe Primary, is doing very well and the judges unanimously agreed that it was the best. Some groups of community members and individuals came forward to participate. Seedlings demand was overwhelming and was in short supply. The green square in front of the Council boardroom bore testimony that a lot was done during the running of the project. The Forestry Commission officials were very helpful in capacity building especially in the nursery component and maintenance of the tree seedlings. Mushinga Village currently have a thriving forest with indigenous fruit trees. Rapid appraisal methods were used during the implementation and running of the project. Some quick and low costs were used to gather participants’ views. All participants were free to give their personal views and the council officials were readily available to capture the concerns. An assessment on whether or not the costs of the project could be justified by the outcomes and their impacts was done.

The lack of technical expertise was a major handicap. That called for the incorporation of the Forestry Commission to provide the knowhow, the sampling of the soil textures and the types of tree species favoured in such conditions. The funding gap left the organisers worried as to what to give the winners. The involvement of the local business people saved the situation. The occurrences of droughts also created a challenge for some types of tree species especially the exotic ones. The indigenous trees thrived despite the drought periods.

Laiza Chibweza commented, “We shall never allow our heritage to be compromised. We have to continue maintaining our indigenous fruit trees despite all odds.” Men provided much of the manual labour especially in the formative and preparatory stages of the project. Land preparation and fencing was largely the responsibility of men. Currently some community woodlots had been established. By allowing their wives to actively participate in the project initiatives, men showed that their attitudes towards the involvement of their wives in primary environmental care had positively changed. Communities were getting greener every season. Community members through their local leadership were being encouraged through various platforms to actively participate in the projects. Almost every household was making an effort to grow or at least protect trees. Fewer penalties especially in communal wards were being issued out by the traditional leadership for anyone who cut down trees without their approval.

Education and awareness was key to the sustenance of the good practice. Every stakeholder had a unique role to play by tailor-making their programmes and projects to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. It was envisaged that when positive changes became visible at household and community level, the best practices could be replicated at similar settings. In Murewa, such a scenario was prevailing and the neighbouring core areas such as Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe (UMP) were copying the good practice of the green agenda and green economies. The change in mindsets was very encouraging as communities were gradually realising that local economic development could be achieved through sustainable utilisation of locally available resources. Throughout the wards, ideas and innovations were being proffered on how best to derive economic value albeit sustainably of locally available common property resources especially tree and herbaceous species. Research by local communities on the same was also very encouraging. The coming to the fore by such partners such as Caritas Zimbabwe who offered a helping hand in the green agenda was refreshing and very welcome.