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Sifelani Tsiko Agric, Environment & Innovations Editor

The first international symposium on forestry opened today with high expectations that experts and stakeholders will find lasting solutions to some of the country’s pressing forestry management challenges.

This one-day symposium is being held under the theme: “Forest Restoration for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.”

It is also being held at a time of ongoing national, regional and global efforts to restore forest landscapes and promote the utilisation of forests in combating the effects of climate change and improvement of livelihoods.

“The focus is to provide new information or trends to inform policy and future interventions for addressing deforestation in Zimbabwe,” said Violet Makoto, spokesperson of the Forestry Commission.

“We hope the symposium will come up with recommendations and key concerns on sustainable forest management in the country.”

The symposium organised by the Forestry Commission has brought together more than 100 participants drawn from the public and private sectors, NGOs, civil society organisations, scientific bodies, academics and forestry experts.

Stakeholders were also expected to review and provide new insights to combat deforestation in Zimbabwe.

A proceedings report with a collection of abstracts and best practices on sustainable forest management in the country will be compiled and published.

Forests play a critical role in life on earth and have a key role in sustainable development.

From tackling poverty and hunger to mitigating climate change and conserving biodiversity, the benefits of forests and trees span multiple goals and targets across the 2030 agenda, Sustainable Development Goals, global forest goals, Paris Agreement on Climate Change and other United Nations goals.

However, these valuable ecosystems are increasingly coming under immense pressure from deforestation, forest degradation, unsustainable practices the effects of climate change.

On average Zimbabwe was losing over 262 000 hectares of forests each year.

This was unsustainable given that forest cover stands at about 45 percent of the country’s area.

This symposium is also expected to encourage inclusive discussions, build new partnerships, and facilitate the mainstreaming of forestry issues into the national and global agendas on sustainable development and post Covid-19 recovery.