KASIBO community in Hwange, Matabeleland North, will be the centre of focus today as the rural community hosts the national World Wetlands Day celebrations.
The United Nations General Assembly designated February 2 as World Wetlands Day and Zimbabwe deferred the national celebrations to today.
The celebrations are scheduled for the Kasibo Wetland, one of the most viable natural resources, which has significantly helped transform livelihoods under Chief Hwange’s area with water provision, irrigation, and livestock sustenance.
Kasibo is now a proper Village Business Unit with water provision, horticulture and livestock on one site.
The theme for this year’s celebrations is: “Protecting Wetlands for our common future.”
The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) is at the forefront of protecting the wetland in collaboration with partners and the community.
EMA Matabeleland North provincial manager Mrs Chipo Mpofu-Zuze said the Kasibo Wetland is a very important resource.
“The wetland has 2ha protected area, a 2ha garden with an attached orchard, a fish pond with a capacity of 500 fish and two weirs with capacity of 15 000 cubic metres and 12 000 cubic metres respectively,” she said.
A garden was set up to enhance benefits of the wetland and boost food security as the natural resource contributes to food security and economic development.
As the recent drought hit hard on the country last year, all boreholes in Kasibo ward dried up and the one at the wetland remained with water, which subsequently serviced the whole ward.
After realising that they can get livelihood from the wetland, locals approached World Vision and the World Food Programme who partnered with Agritex to protect the wetland by fencing it. Both weirs are overflowing for the first time in years.
A bee keeping project has also been established at the wetland after EMA engaged Mr Elias Mzamba of Mopani Bees to lead the project.
Mr Mzamba has trained scores of villagers in bee keeping and initially set up 30 bee hives with 50 more set recently.
“There were 30 old bee hives and 50 new ones to make them 80. I am working with the community on the Kasibo Bee Keeping Project and we have just harvested some which will be displayed at the event,” said Mr Mzamba.
The wetland is a tangible testimony of developments made by the country in environmental conservation, and a perfect reason for Zimbabwe to join the rest of the world in celebratingt he World Wetlands Day 2025.
World Wetlands Day is celebrated to raise awareness among all sections of the society about values and functions of wetlands, utilisation of their resources and their environmental importance.
Zimbabwe ratified the Ramsar convention on wetlands on 11 February 2012 and has since designated seven wetlands as wetlands of international importance (Ramsar sites).
These are the Victoria Falls, Driefontein Grasslands, Middle Zambezi/Mana Pools, Lake Chivero, Monavale Vlei, Chinhoyi Caves and Cleveland Dam.
Victoria Falls, home to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, and also in Hwange District, was recently named among 31 world wetland cities, cementing the heritage city as aconservation and tourism destination of choice.
Zimbabwe is set to host the 15th Conference of the Contracting Parties (Cop15) to the Ramsar Convention on wetlands in Victoria Falls from July 23-31.
The country made the bid at the end of CoP 14 to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands held in Geneva in December 2022 and based on the tremendous work the country has done onwetlands conservation.
Zimbabwean wetlands make up 136 595,8km² of areal cover excluding dams and lakes and Matabeleland North contributes 39 400,80km².