Govt to continue scaling up environmental protection
Environment, Climate, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry Minister Mangaliso Ndhlovu says the government is going to enhance its efforts toward the protection of the environment.
Speaking during a Tourism Indaba in Gweru (Midlands Province) the minister said tourism thrives in a clean environment.
‘’We will however continue to strengthen the regulatory and policy instruments including enforcing penalties for crimes against the environment, where need be we should scale up our work to protect the environment.
‘’It is also critical to deal with challenges to the destruction of forestry cover in this province including the destruction of forestry cover through veld fires and deforestation.
‘’I urge your provincial teams to work with the Forestry Commission to intensify awareness on the area and in undertaking specific afforestation programs in the various districts and local authorities,’’ he said.
Minister Ndhlovu added that his ministry has already set its focus on biodiversity in line with National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) towards achieving the 2030 vision.
‘’My ministry has already set focus towards enhanced biodiversity and conservation, sustainable environmental protection, accelerated reforestation, tourism development and promotion, investment promotion, and use of information communication technologies (ICTs).
‘’We look forward to fruitful deliberations during the day and also to solid action plans that will emerge from this meeting which I and my team will religiously follow to ensure these are executed and that we have a continuous engagement to deal with any issues arising from here,’’ he said.
The minister also told delegates that he will ensure that environmental issues get the attention they deserve in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which the country subscribed.
He also took the opportunity to urge the local authorities to play their part in making sure there is a clean environment for tourism to thrive.
‘’Tourism thrives in a clean environment in relation to all our local authorities here present, both urban and local, I encourage them to develop into a circular economy through proper waste and pollution management.
‘’Waste Management continues to be a challenge that most local authorities are grappling with as the volume of waste generated continues to increase at a faster rate than their capacity to deal with this challenge.
‘’I call upon local authorities in this province and indeed in all other provinces to develop a holistic solution to waste management and to work closely with the Environment Management Agency to deal with their specific challenges that need technical support and guidance,’’ he said.
Govt to continue scaling up environmental protection
