eBusiness Weekly
Dr Linda Omar
The United Nations established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to help businesses and governments to build a more equitable and sustainable world.
In a report published by the International Resource Panel (IRP), well-planned reforestation and related land restoration activities have a cross-sectional benefit.
In Zimbabwe, the National Tree Planting Day is commemorated on the first Saturday of December, with the purpose to motivate the nation to plant, care for, and conserve trees, as a way of ensuring sustainability in the management and utilization of our forest resources. This year’s theme tree Chosen by the Zimbabwe Forestry Commission is the indigenous tree the Waterberry (English), Mukute/Muhute (Shona) or Umdoni (Ndebele).
The planting of trees increases the resilience of ecosystems, and helps minimise climate change effects. Planting native seedlings in ecologically appropriate areas can also counteract soil and biodiversity loss and improve human well-being. This is critical for the enhancement of biodiversity and household food security. The world population has officially reached 8 billion with the majority still largely dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. With regards to the SDGs, in order to eradicate poverty and hunger restoring degraded forests and planting trees addresses hunger by improving the economic well-being of communities. When communities invest in tree planting, this improves the land’s ability to regenerate itself which leads to better yields from their farming activities. Reforestation can improve human health by providing sustainable, high-quality supplies of food and water over time, and by reducing the incidence and transmission of diseases.
Reforestation and maintaining of trees directly promote education by increasing incomes and reducing the time spent securing basic necessities like food and firewood in communities. Parents are therefore capacitated financially to educate their children.
Given the set-up of our communities where women are expected to carry out all household chores, degraded landscapes and ecosystems which are under strain make activities such as water, firewood and food collection heavy for them. Through collective reforestation initiatives in communities, gender equity improves and women are empowered increasing their access to quality nutrition and improving their overall food security.
Forests and wetland degradation causes water stress due to pollution. Land, water cycle and trees play a key role in capturing, filtering and retaining water, therefore, reforestation can significantly improve water supplies.
Access to clean water improves lives of over 2 billion people. Reforestation and sustainable land management significantly improve sustainability by reducing reforestation pressure on ecology.
It can also help to heal the land degradation impacts of mining of coal, gas, and petroleum-based fuels.
Historically, societies and economies grew on the back of healthy ecosystems that provided food, fuel, and clean water.
Simple exercises such as collection of seed, to growing and planting seedlings, managing projects, monitoring planting sites, and growing food crops generates employment and economic activity. Such seemingly simple exercises can have impact on local economies.
Forests are reported to absorb as much as 22lbs of CO2 per year, removing harmful pollutants thus increasing the resilience of ecosystems and help minimize climate change effects. Planting of indigenous trees such as this year’s theme tree the Waterberry (English), Mukute/Muhute (Shona) or Umdoni (Ndebele) can also counteract soil and biodiversity loss as well as improve human well-being. Scarcity of resources leads to conflict as human population when faced with such situations focus on basic survival.
The critical ingredient which accelerates such developments is land degradation which ultimately begets low food leading to resource conflict and competition.
To mitigate against such developments, reforestation reverses these trends and reduce the likelihood of clashing between communities.
Medlico Research and Training Centre acknowledges that the act of reforestation creates a spirit of oneness in a community as it unifies stakeholders around one purpose and that the same spirit can be scaled upwards at a national level.
Medlico intends to contribute to the development of the community through planting of trees. As part of our corporate social reasonability, we intend to donate ten “theme trees” for the year 2022 to Hatcliffe High One School on the 2nd of December 2022. We believe this would be a good example to the students, as an effort to inculcate the behaviour of reforestation and afforestation in them.
This is because as future leaders, students will have the mandate to preserve and conserve the environment to ensure the continuity of the ecosystem.
As Medlico Research and Training Centre, we are guided by COPE 27’s priorities which are summarised as follows; Mitigation, Adaptation: Finance and Collaboration requiring “inclusive and active participation from all stakeholders”. We are also guided by SDG13 which calls for “Climate action” meaning all of us have play our part to keep the planet clean and healthy.
Dr Linda Haj Omar, Founder and CEO of Medlico Research & Training Centre. For feedback WhatsApp: +263 777 553011/12 Email: [email protected]
