Mugabe’s Ocean Conference Explained.
The Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, Oppah Muchinguri Kashiri says despite being a landlocked country, Zimbabwe takes the implementation of SDG 14 seriously and is also committed to good land use and agricultural practices to prevent water pollution.
Minister Muchinguri Kashiri said this during a presentation during a Partnership Dialogue on Fisheries at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York today.
Minister Muchinguri told the gathering of partnership organisations, governments, private sector and non-governmental organisations that Zimbabwe has extensive inland water resources with over 10 000 medium to large dams where small scale fisheries operate with permits and in the process contribute significantly to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2 and 3 which focus on ensuring food security and improving nutrition and healthy lives of the Zimbabwean people.
She explained that various measures that Zimbabwe has put in place to ensure sustainable use and management of fisheries through collaboration of law enforcement agents and the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
Muchinguri Kashiri also spoke about the regional partnerships such The Zambezi River Authority between Zimbabwe and Zambia, as well as bilateral partnerships with Mozambique and South Africa where the two sides jointly manage fish stocks in shared waters, a move that has reduced overfishing.
“Zimbabwe’s conservation management framework also involves imposing partial fishing moratorium to enhance breeding and replenishment of fish stocks.
Zimbabwe also confiscates illegal fishing rigs and cancels licences and imposes heavy penalties to those who are involved,” she said.
Minister Muchinguri Kashiri also announced that Zimbabwe has launched Command Fishing Programme largely driven by rural communities especially women and youths at a small scale level, and appealed for technical cooperation in technology transfer, and fighting pollution.
“We need financial resources and monitoring capacity to ensure there is no misuse of fertilisers and pesticides which if not properly applied can pollute waters which end up in the seas.