MARTIN MAWAYA
GWERU-Local authorities have been urged to systematically address climate change in development planning and urban management by investing in integrated waste management systems where modern infrastructure and it’s operating systems are closely connected.
The call comes at a time when councils are facing serious challenges that include poor service delivery, poor drainage system and other climate change induced changes.
Speaking in an interview with the Midweek Watch, climate change expert Peter Makwanya said councils are instrumental and critical in defining the path to low carbon and emission free transitions as well as creating value chains, opportunities to overcome circularity gaps and realize net- zero.
He said waste management systems are done to contribute to Low Emissions Development (LEDS), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) aimed at contributing towards the attainment of National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
Makwanya added that waste management activities that are not linked to the local governance structures and service delivery are bound to fail hence green models need to be localized.
“Waste management falls into the governance and service delivery systems of most nations and any intervention meant to have recycling businesses or waste management activities that are divorced from the local governance structures will most likely fail. Green or Circular economy models need to be localized so that it is not visualized using foreign lenses.
“People barely notice that, towns and cities are currently vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. This is due to the concentrated events such as flush flooding, water scarcities, damage of the ecosystems and wetlands, all posing risks on the infrastructure, the people’s health, sanitation and well-being, transport and energy sectors, among others,” said Makwanya.
He said despite being a milestone cleansing and sustainable waste management exercise, the recycling community of practice “has been dehumanized, neglected, often stigmatized thereby lacking harmonization and the human face it deserved”.
The climate change expert pointed out that circular economy is big business as well as sustainable environmental charge that can be placed at the heart of sustainable waste recovery, reduction and reuse.
Makwanya said the only way “to protect lives and livelihoods of urban residents, is to adapt to the impacts of climate change, which could increase the severity and frequency of natural disasters”.
He added that Green buildings in urban areas also need to be certified by adding climate adaptation lenses to the construction industry.
In it’s endeavor to fight the climate change scourge, Zimbabwe government revised upwards the NCDs commitment to 40 percent by 2030.
