BY LIVINGSTONE MTETWA
“CLIMATE Change mitigation strategies or the blueprint prevalent in Zimbabwe do not directly address the issues in specific regions as Zimbabwe is abundant with different climatic conditions depending on the region.”
These were the opening remarks by Kudzayiishe Seti, one of the founding directors of the Green Institute Trust in a climate change brief meeting held on August 4, 2023 at Protea Lodge in Chipinge.
The meeting was attended by representatives from the media, the local governance, District Development Coordinator’s office, the Refugee Coalition For Climate Action (RCCA), Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and traditional leadership village head Mutape Muango of Mt Selinda and member of Mutambara chieftainship of Chimanimani.
This acted as a final engagement to the interested parties as well as residents on how the Green Institute would come up with a climate change training and communication pamphlet which will be available in both English and Ndau languages.
The meeting was also an update on the creation of a policy brief highlighting key areas of climate change disaster risk reduction, climate change mitigation, resilience and adaptation.
“In a bid to increase inclusivity and climate change literacy, The Green Institute Trust supported by World Resource Institute and People Powered, spearheaded the creation of a community driven Chipinge Climate Change Guiding Booklet which gave birth to a series of workshops from March 2023 to present.
“The epitome of community engagement was the Co-Creation workshop which called all the stakeholders which include the government, government ministries, community-based organisation, Chipinge community members, the private sector in business, women, youth, those with disabilities, traditional leaders and refugees to discuss and map the Chipinge Climate Change Guiding Booklet in April 2023,” said Seti.
Climate Change has affected livelihoods globally. Equally Zimbabwe has not been spared as it has witnessed devastating cyclones and droughts.
The country has come out with various response strategies including the National Climate Policy and the Zimbabwe National Climate Change Response Strategy. These have helped in mapping the blueprint of Zimbabwe’s climate action.
However, these blueprints do not address directly situations in different communities hence the decision to come up with a climate change blueprint specific for Chipinge District.
Blessing Matasva the co-director for the Green Institute Trust gave a brief description of the works being conducted by the Green Institute.
“Climate induced disasters paved way for the birth of the Green Institute Trust. Green Institute was birthed in 2018 and it is a climate action group driven by young people. The Trust also upholds women empowerment projects as it has three gardens in Chipinge supporting around 200 women.
“The Green Institute is also supported by the Forest Commission which donated bee hives. Above all Green Institute is not involved in politics, however, we do support government’s initiatives for development,” explained Matasva.
The Green Institute Trust operates from Mt Selinda in Chipinge. At the moment they are based in the Chipinge and Masvingo and they plan to expand to other parts of the country with time.