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Namugala urges sustainable management of environment

Namugala urges sustainable management of environment
Written by Kabanda Chulu, Margaret Habbuno and Mutuna Chanda
Friday, June 05, 2009 11:10:38 PM

ENVIRONMENT and natural resources minister Catherine Namugala yesterday said there was need to give a human face to environmental issues through empowering people to take active roles in sustainable and equitable management of the environment. And United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said the economic and financial turmoil sweeping the world is a true wake-up call about the need to make a new transition towards a greener and cleaner development.

During commemorations to mark the 2009 World Environment Day, Namugala said climate change was a major challenge to sustainable development.

"Zambia has not been spared from the adverse effects of climate change. It has devastating effects on the country's economy and is a serious threat to the implementation of the fifth National Development Plan and the vision 2030," said Namugala.

"Specifically, the objective of this year's theme is to give a human face to environmental issues by empowering people to take active roles in the sustainable and equitable management of the environment, promoting an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues and advocating partnerships which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy safer and more prosperous future."

And his message to mark the environment day, Ki-moon stated that the earth was facing the grave threat of climate change.

And United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) executive director Achim Steiner said there was need for togetherness in sending a request titled ‘seal the deal’ to world leaders when they meet in Denmark later this year.

"We need to unite and send a simple request, in doing so, world leaders will be delivering perhaps the most transformational and far-reaching stimulus package of them all, now and for the coming decades," stated Steiner.

Citizens for a Better Environment (CBE) executive director Peter Sinkamba said it seemed that the battle against climate change was being lost.

Sinkamba said this was evidenced by the mounting challenges that the world faced such as droughts, storms and distorted weather patterns resulting from climate change.

"Our biggest problem has been climate change and the hottest years have been 1980 to date," said Sinkamba. "The problems are becoming huge and the United Nations and member countries believe that the only way we can probably reverse the impact of climate change is to raise awareness among our industries and our children."

He said the world had also seen various disasters including floods in Africa resulting from the change in climatic conditions.

He said Southern Province which used to be Zambia's breadbasket no longer fed the country owing to adverse climatic conditions.

He said the adverse climatic conditions that had distorted Zambia's weather patterns had affected the country so much that whenever it experienced a drought, it was termed as an emergency owing to its depleted maize stocks.

And Zambia Forestry College acting vice principal Richard Banda said many crop fields and houses were lost resulting from adverse weather conditions owing to climate change.

"A memorable example of the havoc climate change can wreck are the floods experienced in Mazabuka and Sinazongwe districts of Southern Province and Western Province where over 580 families were reported displaced by flash floods during the 2007 to 2008 and 2008 to 2009 rain seasons," said Banda.

And Patriotic Front Nkana member of parliament Mwenya Musenge called on government to include topics on climate change in science related subjects in primary and secondary schools.

He said this would make young people responsible irrespective of the careers they pursued.

And Youth Environment Network (YEN) Zambia executive director Billy Mwansa urged parliamentarians to push towards the direction of policy that protected the environment.

Labels: CATHERINE NAMUGALA

posted by MrK @ 10:14 PM