The ManicaPost
CLIMATOLOGISTS say climate change has made Zimbabwe and other Southern African countries drier and warmer over the last three decades, thereby creating a conducive environment for veld fires to become more frequent and lethal.
The dry and warm winters experienced over Zimbabwe, combined with abundant grass fuels and ready sources of ignition (mostly from human activities) have seen veld fires becoming a regular feature on our savanna landscape.
On average, runaway veld fires destroy one million hectares of land every year in Zimbabwe.
During the first week of October 2022, the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) had recorded more than 774 fire incidences.
EMA estimates that property worth US$300 000 is destroyed by fire annually.
This, clearly, is affecting the strategic sectors of the economy, including agriculture, tourism and communication.
This is in addition to the air and water pollution, as well as the destruction of wildlife that comes with veld fires.
This season alone, veld fires have destroyed 200ha of wheat, including the 40ha of barley worth US$160 000 that was reduced to ashes in Headlands early this month.
Livestock has also not been spared by the infernos.
Several farmers are counting their losses after veld fires consumed their cattle, sheep or poultry.
It doesn’t end there; human life has been lost due to veld fires.
Since the onset of the fire season on July 31, a total of 18 people had been killed by veld fires by beginning of October.
This include the 10 who perished in Esigodini, Matabeleland South, when they were trapped by a veld fire as they tried to put it out on a farm.
This is why urgent action needs to be taken to ensure that veld fire management becomes more effective.
In managing the fires, it is crucial to remember that most veld fires are a result of human actions, including the disposal of cigarettes, the clearing of land for agricultural purposes and hunting, among other things.
The impacts of fires are multifaceted and are a threat to the bio-physical, social and economic environment because of their trail of destruction and direct impact on all sectors of the economy.
Impacts range from loss of livelihoods and income, psychosocial impacts associated with fatalities and family bereavement, deforestation and loss of biodiversity.
This is why the Government of Zimbabwe has put in place several legislative provisions with regards to veld fire management and control.
Under Statutory Instrument 7 of 2007, every land user is expected to put in place fire prevention mechanisms.
According to SI 7 of 2007 as read with the Environmental Management Act (CAP 20:27), no person is allowed to light a fire outside their residential and commercial premises during Zimbabwe’s fire season which runs from July 31 to October 31 each year.
In cases where one intends to undertake burning outside residential and commercial premises, it is a legal requirement to inform one’s neighbours of that intention.
However, despite the existence of an array of regulations on fire management, the biggest challenge has been on enforcement mechanisms.
For example, due to poor enforcements, fines and imprisonments for fire offences are hardly applied.
Besides poor enforcement, the fines and penalties imposed on people who start any fires are also not deterrent enough considering the damages caused.
Moreover, currently, perpetrators are not legally obliged to compensate victims for the damage.
Therefore, more needs to be done to combat the impact for veld fires.
In addition to veld fire awareness campaigns, EMA needs to improve its preparedness in fighting veld fires.
The Agency needs to acquire fire-fighting equipment and train their own manpower, particularly fire fighters and community fire fighters.
EMA also needs to have at least one stand-by fire fire-fighting and emergency plane in each province.
Such a plane will be used for emergency evacuation and fire-fighting where it will be too risky to use ground-based fire gangs.
While putting a plug on veld fires might be a tall order, reducing their impact is certainly within reach.
