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Shift to proactive environmentalism
Chipo Masara, The Standard (Zimbabwe)
May 29, 2011

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/local/29952-shift-to-proactive-environmentalism.html

The main reason why we are faced with a myriad of environmental problems, most of which we are having serious difficulties correcting, is because we have taken a laid-back reactive approach to environmentalism for too long. Due to countless years of abusing the environment and venturing in one activity or the other, which have had dire effects on the ecological state, Zimbabwe now arguably has one of the most tattered environments.

For instance, because farmers have for generations insisted on making use of those farming practices that they believed to be the best as they produced more yields in the short-term, the soils have now been fatally overwhelmed by the excess fertilisers and pesticides.

This has seen farmers reaping less in terms of quantity and quality.

As for the state of wildlife in the country, now that one would leave any nature-loving person infuriated.

The responsible authorities, through major help from Campfire, for a very long time preached about "sustainable utilisation" of the wildlife resources. Although the intentions could well have been noble, it gave many the misconceptions that they owned the country's wildlife and could do with it as they pleased.

This saw cases of poaching shooting up.

The situation is now so desperate that the black rhinoceros is in danger of extinction, among other wildlife.

It would appear as though it is only just recently that the responsible authorities discovered that we had a huge poaching problem and have since assigned law enforcement officers on a vigorous anti-poaching campaign.

It still remains to be seen whether or not that will actually help.

At its worst, reactive environmentalism tries to give the impression that all is being done to balance environmental considerations with economic needs. In the meantime, the average citizen is bound to be fooled into believing that all is as it should be when this is actually very far from the truth.

The Zimbabwean government has since as way back as the 80s been an active participant in global environmental conventions and has indeed ratified quite a number.

The ratifications however appear to have been the government's way of giving the international community the impression that Zimbabwe is a country that has a deep respect for the preservation of the environment when in actual fact the picture on the ground says exactly the opposite.

By now, every responsible person should know that it is us the human beings that depend more on the environment, instead of the other way round and that it would be in our best interest to care for the environment.

In that spirit, it then becomes necessary for any country to implement environmental policies that do not seek to cater only for the short-term needs, but also seek to ensure that the future generations inherit a part of what nature intended for everyone.

It is also of paramount importance that the environmental experts in our midst be allowed the platform to also project the likely future environmental scenario and come up with ways to start tackling issues that might in future prove too overwhelming.

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