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Elita Chikwati Features Editor

The DanChurchAid-led, Utariri biodiversity stewardship programme will be officially launched early next year as part of efforts to promote sustainable management and use of natural resources.

This follows a receipt of a US$5,5 million grant from the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (SIDA).

The Utariri steward programme is in line with the new Swedish Development Cooperation Strategy for Zimbabwe 2022–2026, for strengthened conditions for sustainable management and use of natural resources, including protection, conservation, and restoration of biodiversity.

The commitment comes as the United Nations Conference on biodiversity, COP15 wraps up in Canada today.

During the conference, developing countries demanded a new funding mechanism of US$100 billion annually until 2030 to support initiatives to curb biodiversity losses.

DCA Zimbabwe country director, Mr Mads Lindegard said global discussion forums were useful and should include those directly impacted by biodiversity loss.

“These global discussion forums are useful but unless the people that are directly impacted by biodiversity loss, climate change or human-wildlife conflict are included in the response to their daily struggles, then none of the efforts will get the results, “ he said.

The Utariri consortia, made up of DanChurchAid and five partners – African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), Bushlife Conservancy, Farmers Association of Community Self Help Trust (FACHIG), Future of Hope Foundation (FoHF), and Zambezi Valley Conservation Network, believes that any meaningful fight to reduce biodiversity losses must keep community participation and inclusion in the protection of the ecosystems at the centre.

The Zambezi Valley is home to one of Africa’s most important biodiversity areas, it forms the last remaining protected area extensive enough to support large populations of large mammals and includes a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the UNESCO Middle Zambezi Biosphere Reserve.

This substantially increases the importance of proactive biodiversity management of the landscape, including across borders.

The Utariri proposed project area lies between Victoria Falls and the Luangwa River on the Zimbabwe and Zambia border. The middle-lower Zambezi Valley is part of the 1.3 million square kilometres of the Zambezi River basin. The Zambezian biome covers 95 percent of the area.

“We are working hard to secure additional funding that will extend our Utariri biodiversity programme across borders, to ensure reach and a holistic response to biodiversity, climate change and livelihoods across the Zambezi Valley,” said Mr Lindegard, while indicating that current funding support from SIDA, the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), and the UNDP’s Global Environment Facility (GEF) was not enough to cover even half of the expanse of the Zambezi Valley.

“We obviously have a lot of work to do to build donor confidence, but we believe that our community stewardship model is the correct approach towards sustainable interventions for both people and planet,’ he said.

One of the many Utariri biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation interventions will be the planting of 250 000 trees over the next three years in the valley, to increase carbon sequestration, improve the resilience capacity of ecosystems and increase species diversity

“There are traditional ways in which these ecosystems have been managed for centuries and we need in part, to go back to that and adopt what was good and compliment it with conventional wisdom. History has taught us that a strict conservation approach or a purely developmental approach is not enough, we must develop a hybrid where we find the positive from the different models,” said Mr Lindegard.

The UN Conference on Biodiversity was attended by 190 countries, including 70 African countries.

The Zimbabwean delegation was led by Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu.

The Minister said the decline in biodiversity had serious implications for humanity ranging from the collapse of food production, economic decline and compromises the health system, among other effects.