GOVERNMENT says it will seek the buy in of neighbouring countries first before rolling out its plan to turn ivory stockpiles into tradable commodities.
A cabinet minister told businessdigest recently that the idea had been tabled within the southern African region, and governments were now making their own internal consultations.
But, according to Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Mangaliso Ndhlovu, the processes will be completed by end of year.
Ndhlovu’s ministry has set up a team that is currently discussing with Treasury and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) how the country can turn its 130-tonne ivory stockpile into a commodity akin to gold coins.
The proposed instrument would be based on carbon credits, which are created when one metric tonne of carbon dioxide is removed from, or prevented from entering the atmosphere through an emissions reduction programme.
Ndhlovu said in an interview the commodity would gain more traction if pushed at a regional level.
“It is not a Zimbabwean product,” he said.
“It is a regional product from a Sadc (Southern African Development Community) perspective because we will need to have buy-in of neighbours for the product to take off very well,” he said.
- Rampaging inflation hits Old Mutual . . . giant slips to $9 billion loss after tax
- Monetary measures spur exchange rate stability: RBZ
- Zim deploys IMF windfall to horticulture
- Banker demands $21m from land developer
Keep Reading
“So, it has slowed a bit in momentum because member states have to consult in their countries. But we are quite agreed that this is the way to go.
“I hope that we make major announcements before the next Cites (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).
In fact, before the end of the year, we should have made some progress in that. I believe this is the way to go,” he said.
Ndhlovu revealed last year that experts were looking into how best to move.
During the African Elephant Summit held in Hwange last year, Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe endorsed a declaration to find ways of using their wildlife products to develop the sector.
This was against Cites regulation enforced in 1975 to protect endangered wildlife animals by banning ivory trade.
The ban came into force in 1989.
The government is in the process of auditing its natural assets to see which ones can be used to form tradable carbon credits. In that regard, the government is looking into wildlife and agriculture, among other resources, to see whether these two can be used to issue carbon credits.
“In 2023, the government is also entering the carbon credit market, a US$2 billion global market,” financial services firm IH Securities said in a recent mining report.
“Companies such as mining houses use carbon markets to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing carbon credits from counterparties that remove or reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“Zimbabwe is believed to be the 12th largest net producer of offsets, with 4,2 million credits reportedly being generated.
“The proposed carbon credit tax framework will deduct up to 50% of revenue from offsets, potentially disrupting the local market,” IH said.
The government seeks to raise money for conservation efforts as the country now has an elephant population of 100 000, against a capacity of 45 000.
