When it comes to picture-worthy landscapes, Zimbabwe has no shortage. From its Hwange National Park teeming with wildlife, to the mighty Victoria Falls, to the immense Lake Kariba, the largest man-made lake in the world, the country’s residents can boast of many beautiful and inspiring environments. In a bid to ensure that its cities spark just as much pride, the Zimbabwean government is launching a 3-year project to improve the country’s management of chemicals and waste.
Like many other developing countries, Zimbabwe has committed to agreements that will protect the environment and the health of its citizens, including the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions and Minamata Convention. However, constrained by a lack of funding and the absence of a cohesive national plan to combat its chemicals and waste management problems, the government has struggled to meet its obligations.
Yet through this new project, supported by the United Nations Environment Programme’s Chemicals and Waste Management Programme, Zimbabwe is taking concrete steps to make its land, water, and air cleaner and safer. This is deemed particularly critical in the country’s urban areas, where roughly 32% of the country’s 15.3 million population live.[i]
It is estimated that 1.5 million tons of municipal solid waste is generated annually in Zimbabwe, and only 16% of this refuse is recycled.[ii] Most of the waste can be found strewn in piles upon piles within communities, city streets, and poorly managed dumping sites. This has led to land contamination and water borne diseases like cholera, for which a large outbreak in 2018 in the country’s capital of Harare was associated with poor sewage and waste management.[iii]
During any given hour, all types of waste, including from plastic products, can also be seen and smelt being burned by residents, given that waste collection is either nonexistent or irregular in many areas. Open-air burning creates a toxic load of emissions that increase people’s risk for upper respiratory diseases and also negatively impacts both animals and plants.
The Zimbabwean government has faced many hurdles to combat these and other waste and chemicals management challenges. Perhaps the biggest hindrance, however, has been the lack of a standalone national policy. Chemicals and waste risk management in Zimbabwe is partly covered under several pieces of legislation, thus splitting chemicals and waste management activities across different ministries. This has inevitably led to gaps, overlaps, and duplication in the country’s chemicals management activities. Such challenges, coupled with a general lack of funding to support chemicals and waste management initiatives, have made many urban and rapidly urbanizing areas both an eyesore and an unhealthy place to live.
To ensure its cities are as picturesque and clean as its national parks, rivers, plains, and mountains, the project will enable the creation of a national Sound Management of Chemicals and Wastes Policy. This policy will lead to a complete and comprehensive chemicals and wastes management framework, with measures for chemicals and waste management at every stage of their lifecycle.
To guide the project, a National Coordination Committee (NCC) will be established that convenes a wide range of stakeholders possessing in-depth scientific and legal knowledge in the sound management of chemicals and waste. This multi-stakeholder body will include representatives from the Environmental Management Agency; the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority; the Radiation Protection Authority of Zimbabwe; the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement; and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, among others.
Just as important, the NCC will include the expertise and voices of civil society, private sector, and international development partners. Through government and public and private sector collaboration, long-term change can be more rapidly achieved.
Under the direction of the NCC, the existing chemicals and waste related legislation will be reviewed and updated. This effort will mark the first step for the development of a strategy and will both present the framework and lay the foundation for institutional strengthening in Zimbabwe. It will also help resolve the identified gaps, overlaps, and duplication of institutional roles in chemicals and wastes management in the country, resulting in strong inter-agency coordination.
As a lack of funding to effectively manage chemicals and waste has been a persistent issue, the review and update will include avenues to generate sustainable financing to meet current and future chemicals and waste management needs, including through private sector funding.
Once an integrated, cross-sectoral chemicals and waste management policy is developed, it will be forwarded to the Government of Zimbabwe for adoption. Every effort will be made to integrate this policy into national development policy, with the goal of improving the efficiency of national activities. Moreover, to ensure the sustainability of the project, the NCC is expected to become a formal component of the government’s internal structures to ensure it can address the sound management of chemicals in the long term.
Armed with a comprehensive, national policy for the sound management of chemicals and waste, the government of Zimbabwe will be better positioned to protect its treasures, foremost of which is its people.
For further information, please contact the Special Programme Secretariat at unepchemicalsspecialprogramme@un.org
