By Andrew Zhou
Masvingo – The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) recently took a significant step towards promoting environmental conservation in Masvingo province’s rural communities by training traditional leaders on environmental management best practices.
The training programme, which were done in Gutu, Zaka and Mwenezi District, aims to equip traditional leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to champion environmental conservation in their area of jurisdiction.
The programme covers a range of topics, including sustainable land use, waste management, gully control, illegal mining, illegal sand extraction, and wetlands management.
EMA’s Masvingo Provincial Spokesperson, Munyaradzi Mtisi, said it was an ongoing program which will cover all traditional leaders in the entire Masvingo province’s seven districts.
‘We have been targeting traditional leaders. We have so far trained traditional leaders in Mwenezi, Gutu and Zaka but, the programme will spread throughout the entire province.” said Mtisi.
Mtisi, emphasized the importance of traditional leaders in promoting environmental and natural resources conservation.
“Traditional leaders play a crucial role in shaping the values and practices of their communities. By empowering them with environmental management knowledge and skills, we can promote sustainable practices and protect Zimbabwe’s natural resources.” he said.
Traditional leaders will be equipped with training skills which they will use to train villagers on environmental management practices. They will also learn steps to take when environmental harmful practices happen in their communities.
“The leaders will train other villagers on these resources management and report issues like illegal mining, illegal sand extraction or deforestation to responsible authorities like EMA or Forestry Commission.” said Mtisi.
He said by empowering traditional leaders and other stakeholders with environmental management knowledge and skills, EMA aimed to foster a culture of sustainability and environmental stewardship in Zimbabwe.
He also said 50 traditional leaders including village heads, headmen and chiefs were trained in Mwenezi District alone.
The training programme was well-received by traditional leaders, who recognize the need for environmental conservation in their communities.
In an interview with TellZim News, Mwenezi’s Silver Village head born Mattison Imbayago said he was implementing what he learnt due training by EMA.
“We are grateful to EMA for this initiative, we are now committed to promoting environmental conservation in our communities and protecting Zimbabwe’s natural resources for future generations.
“We are now controlling gullies and those who want to cut down trees for firewood are required to obtain the permit first from the responsible authorities and failure to do so, one will face the wrath of the law,” said Imbayago.
