As Forests Eliminate Firewood Scarcity Hits Zimbabwean Citizens — Global Issues
CHIMANIMANI, Zimbabwe, Nov 6 2024 (IPS) – Linet Makwera (28) has a child on her back as she moves barefoot, picking up small logs from both sides of the dirt and narrow road, staring at people passing by in a frightening way. Chimanimani road in Mutambara area of Gonzoma village in Manicaland Province in Zimbabwe, in the east of the country.
Makwera says he is afraid of the police who patrol in plainclothes, who tend to target people and cut down the few trees there in search of firewood.
Amid a nationwide firewood shortage, more than 300,000 trees were destroyed between 2000 and 2010, according to Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.
In fact, in 2011, the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe found that the country was losing about 330,000 hectares of forest annually. According to Global Forest Watch in 2010, Zimbabwe had 1.01 Mha of natural forest, which extends over 2.7 percent of its land area. By 2023, it has lost 4.67 ha of natural forest, which is equivalent to 3.27 Mt of CO₂ emissions.
A slight decrease compared to before, currently, the level of deforestation in Zimbabwe is estimated at 262,348.98 hectares per year, said the Forestry Commission.
According to the UNDP in 2022, the use of local forests for firewood is also one of the factors that cause deforestation in the country.
UNDP has been on record, saying that currently, firewood accounts for more than 60 percent of the country’s total electricity and about 98 percent of the rural population relies on firewood for cooking and heating.
The Forestry Commission says that about 11 million pounds of firewood is needed for cooking, heating and tobacco treatment every year in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe sits at the top of the United Nations list of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) that face the highest rate of deforestation in the world, as most of the people living in rural areas rely on firewood for cooking.
However, even though the cutting down of trees for firewood is getting worse in Zimbabwe, it is a crime that everyone is found cutting down trees for all purposes without the blessing of the authorities.
If caught on the wrong side of the law, a wood poacher can be fined USD 200 to 5,000.
Like many villagers living in his remote area, Makwera has to contend with a shortage of firewood as forests disappear due to deforestation.
But laws prohibiting people from cutting down trees have also meant hard times for many like Makwera.
However, despite his difficulty in finding firewood regularly to cook for his family, he (Makwera) had to continue with the army, like many other residents in his area.
Since even the hills and mountains have run out of wood in Makwera village, life has never been the same for the residents, as they do not have electricity, which would have been possible even if there was, it would not have saved anything during the day. A power outage has gripped the nation of South Africa.
“Finding firewood is now a big challenge. Yes, we buy. There is nothing we can do. We are suffering to find firewood. In the hills and mountains where we used to find firewood, there is nothing,” Makwera told IPS.
Named using the traditional Shona language, the tsotso stove is usually a tin with holes covered in it, with several small sticks hidden inside the home-made stove to generate the heat needed for cooking.
Annoyed by the growing firewood shortage, Zimbabweans have come to buy firewood from hunters who roam around in scotch carts hailing buyers.
There are many such people like Tigere Mhike who is 33 years old and a resident of Gonzoma village who says that he has been making a living by selling firewood to the villagers who are in need.
He does this illegally, in order to escape the wrath of the law enforcement, Mhike said that he and his assistant often work under the dark looking for this gold from the wood.
“Where we live now there are many densely populated areas. Some areas that had a lot of wood are now inhabited by many people. Now we have to walk very long distances, we wake up early in the morning. sometimes at 2 in the morning we go to look for firewood to deliver to local people who want firewood. We sell one cart full of firewood for one dollar -25 (US),” Mhike told IPS.
Amid the persistent drought caused by climate change that has also led to the gradual disappearance of Zimbabwe’s forests, the use of tsotso stoves that require less wood to generate heat, residents said they are beginning to face hardship.
Even an environmental expert like Batanai Mutasa, part of the ways to eliminate the lack of firewood have become the tsotso stoves that are now popular given Zimbabwe’s laws against cutting down trees.
Mutasa is also the spokesperson for the independent Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) which brings together lawyers who fight for the country’s environment.
As these trees are disappearing amid the wood hunting in Zimbabwean villages such as Gonzoma in Manicaland province, Mutasa has some advice.
“My advice to people who are struggling to find firewood in remote areas is that they must work together to find other ways to protect our trees from harm, things like using biogas or stoves that do not require a lot of wood like tsotso stoves,” Mutasa) told IPS.
In the worst case, says Mutasa, in order to save the forests when they need firewood, people must simply cut branches from the remaining trees to use them to burn the trees.
Mutasa said: “People must make it a habit to plant and replant trees.
Another resident of Gonzoma, Mzilikazi Rusawo, who is in his early sixties, said that they are faced with a difficult search for firewood as the few forests are jealously guarded by the law enforcers, they have to seek permission from the authorities before they cut down the trees of their choice.
“The law does not allow us to cut down trees to get firewood. We actually seek permission from the authorities before cutting down trees to look for firewood, we do this carefully – cutting down slowly to leave some trees,” Rusawo. he told IPS.
For Zimbabwe’s government, elections are fast approaching as rural residents struggle with firewood shortages.
Another thing that can be done by the citizens living in rural areas in the country where more than 90% are unemployed, said the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
“The lack of firewood is a big challenge for all people living in rural areas, but it is not only firewood that can be used for cooking. People can also use biogas,” Joyce Chapungu, spokesperson for the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), told IPS. .
Since the price of biogas in Zimbabwe is two dollars per kilogram, not many rural residents can afford this cooking gas.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
