THE Environmental Management Agency (Ema) has condemned a housing development project being undertaken in Greystone Park, Borrowdale, saying its location is a wetland area.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ema said the project started without the necessary environmental licences on a clearly defined wetland.
Ema said the wetland had distinctive black clay and other ecological indicators, prompting it to issue tickets and an environmental protection order to cease operations.
Local Government and Public Works minister Daniel Garwe in a statement issued early this week indicated that government was seized with concerns raised by various stakeholders regarding the project.
“The agency promptly reacted to this obviously environmentally illegal activity by issuing a ticket and an environmental protection order to the proponent to cease operations immediately and to initiate the environmental impact assessment process,” Ema said.
The agency said it had not approved the proposed project due to its ecological and socio-economic landscape impacts.
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“The proponent has since submitted a prospectus for the proposed project, which the agency has outrightly rejected on the basis that the area is a wetland and the project is likely to result in irreversible ecological impacts, with a high likelihood of also hugely impacting the socio-economic landscape,” Ema said.
It further called on planning authorities and developers to exercise due diligence in land allocation and land use planning ensuring they do not interfere with the ecosystem.
“The agency is on record continuously calling upon planning authorities and would-be developers to exercise due diligence in land allocation and land use planning so as not to interfere with fragile ecosystems or areas of ecological importance,” Ema said.
It further advised planning authorities that the spatial distribution of wetlands is regulated by policies that should be adhered to.
“In the case of wetlands, the agency would like to remind the planning authorities that the spatial distribution of wetlands in Zimbabwe has been identified through the National Wetlands Masterplan (2021) and wetland areas in individual local authorities have been mapped and presented as specific wetland maps for those areas,” it said.
“Development plans should be influenced by the spatial distribution of these wetland areas to prohibit development from taking place on wetlands.”
It said the Environment, Climate and Wildlife ministry, through EMA, had gazetted certain wetlands as ecologically sensitive areas as provided for in section 113 of the Environment Management Act to conserve and protect the wetlands, totalling an estimated area of 258 780,99 hectares as of the end of 2024.
“These are all concerted efforts to ring-fence wetlands as systems of ecological importance and to entrench the principles of conservation and wise use of wetlands as advocated for by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and our own national aspirations on wetland protection,” Ema said.
The agency warned that violating legal provisions on wetland management in Zimbabwe is a punishable offence.
“An offender is liable to a fine not exceeding level 14 or imprisonment not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and such imprisonment,” the agency said.
“Wetlands matter for the survival of mankind and it remains everyone’s responsibility to protect these vital ecosystems for posterity.”