President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe marches alongside the Zimbabwe Defence Forces during his inaugural ceremony after winning a landslide victory over the western-backed opposition MDC on June 27, 2008.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Editor — Marange diamonds are not conflict diamonds.
They are not being used in a free-for-all financing of armed conflict.
In fact, what the Government did was to take tough action to end a free for all which could have developed into serious social conflict if left unchecked.
Before the army moved in, informal diamond panners had resorted to battering each other for the big finds.
Some of the horror stories you hear coming out of Chiadzwa are about ordinary people robbing each other in brutal ways.
Many Zimbabweans are actually grateful that the army brought back sanity into the area.
Yes, Marange diamonds are being used by the incumbent Government, but then resources the world over are used by incumbent governments to strengthen their positions.
Those who are against the free trade of Marange diamonds adopt that position for entirely selfish reasons.
In fact, they do not want their own diamonds such as Murowa diamonds and River Ranch to be classified as conflict diamonds, despite them also being mined in Zimbabwe.
You see, a Western company is mining at Murowa, which is why you hear absolutely no complaint about Murowa diamonds.
The West is against the free trade of Marange diamonds because the revenue from them will make it more difficult to unseat President Mugabe (It will work against their regime change agenda, to borrow Zanu-PF’s words.)
The West is not against the free trade of Murowa diamonds because they bring profit for their kith and kin.
Yes, there are issues of corruption and greed surrounding the Marange diamonds but let us deal with them for what they are — corruption and greed.
Calling the Marange diamonds what they are not — they are not conflict diamonds — actually worsens the real problem that needs to be dealt with — corruption and greed. It leaves a lot of room for greedy officials to steal diamonds and trade them on the parallel market.
Jupiter Punungwe.
Via e-mail.
Let’s close ranks on sanctions
WE condemn, in the strongest terms possible, the behaviour of MDC legislators who disrupted a pre-budget consultative meeting in Victoria Falls simply because the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Mr Joseph Kanyekanye had chronicled the debilitating effects of the sanctions on the economy and livelihoods.
It’s quite tragic that at a time when our brothers and sisters in Sadc are seized with the anti-sanctions lobby, we have people in our midst who pass themselves off as leaders who still try to deny the obvious with a straight face yet evidence abounds that the sanctions took a toll on livelihoods over the past decade.
In fact, the Westerners have admitted that the sanctions are constraining the operations of the inclusive Government, which is why they are looking at ways of toning them down.
Sadc is on record as saying the sanctions are not only affecting Zimbabwe but the region as a whole.
What is more, the MDC-T itself, through its secretary-general Tendai Biti, who is Finance Minister in the inclusive Government, admitted that sanctions have taken a toll on Zimbabwe.
MDC legislators need to read the text of the GPA that clearly acknowledges the existence of, and condemnation of the ruinous economic sanctions.
For the avoidance of doubt, Article IV Sanctions and Measures, says among other things that the ruinous Western sanctions manifest in the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, suspension of Zimbabwe’s voting and related rights, suspension of balance of payments support, declaration of ineligibility to borrow Fund resources and suspension of technical assistance to Zimbabwe by the International Monetary Fund; suspension of grants and infrastructural development support to Zimbabwe by the World Bank; and imposition of targeted travel bans against current Government and some business leaders have, over the years, had a debilitating effect on the economy, and should be lifted in order to facilitate a sustainable solution to the challenges that are currently facing Zimbabwe.
Who better to chronicle the effects of the sanctions than the captains of industry who have seen business shrink over the years and lost numerous jobs in the process.
It’s providential that business leaders are speaking out against the sanctions, their voice is needed to debunk MDC and Western propaganda that claims the sanctions are targeted at Zanu-PF leaders.
We salute Mr Kanyekanye for his candour and urge the MDC leaders to grow up. One can no longer deny the existence of sanctions without looking ridiculous.
What we need right now is to close ranks against all forms of sanctions and Western interference in our internal affairs, only then can we chart a path to a great future for our country.
Biodiversity in battle against poverty, climate change
By Sifelani Tsiko
All over the world, biodiversity matters are increasingly taking the front seat as environmentalists push governments to take the erosion of biodiversity seriously.
Writers of a book published recently titled: “The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity,” argue that nature’s riches can play a major role in poverty eradication, but only if governments and businesses recognise the true economic value of the goods and services our environment provides us.
The book was published recently by the International Institute for Environment and Development, Birdlife International and Pavan Sukhdev — leader of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity study.
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study is a major international initiative to draw attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity.
It is also meant to highlight the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to draw together expertise from the fields of science, economics and policy to enable practical actions moving forward.
It warns that biodiversity loss is not only an environmental problem but also a fundamental threat to people’s livelihoods, wellbeing and ability to confront the impacts of climate change.
The colourful publication written in clear, engaging language is aimed at policymakers, journalists and the general public.
The book comes after the holding of the world’s biggest international conference on biodiversity, in Nagoya, Japan.
“The ongoing decline of the world’s biological resources — such as rainforests, coral reefs and agricultural biodiversity — threatens to increase poverty and people’s vulnerability to climate change,” says Dr Dilys Roe, a senior researcher at IIED.
“These challenges must be tackled together rather than in isolation.”
The book shows how nature provides humanity with goods and services worth trillions of dollars.
But it warns that these benefits are threatened by policies that fail to treat the environment and human wellbeing as two sides of the same coin.
Experts say biodiversity includes :
--The crops we eat and the insects that pollinate them.
--The plants we use for both traditional medicines and modern drugs
--The bacteria that help create the soil that sustains farming; and the microscopic plankton at the base of food chains that end with fish on our dinner plates.
--It includes ecosystems such as forests that regulate water supplies and the global climate.
In short, it is a full range of life over a given area.
While millions of the world’s poorest people depend heavily on nature for their livelihoods, efforts to use biodiversity to boost incomes often fail.
This is because of poor policies and legal frameworks that govern how biological resources are used and by whom, the writers argued.
“Systems that communities have developed over generations to sustainably manage their natural resources have often been swept aside by policies that favour short-term commercial gains,” says David Thomas of BirdLife International.
“By supporting these communities’ long-term stewardship of the land and the sea, policymakers can tackle two urgent global issues — extreme poverty and the loss of biodiversity — at the same time.”
The book outlines the economic, scientific and moral arguments for shifting to a new way of managing the Earth’s resources that brings benefits to all in a sustainable way.
It argues that biological resources can lift people out of poverty and help countries to build green economies.
However, for this to happen the true value of biodiversity must be included in economic valuations and government policies.
Zimbabwe and most other African countries continue to register significant ecological damage and biodiversity losses.
This is due to rising levels of environmental pollution, deforestation, bush fires, introduction of exotic plant crops that out-compete indigenous ones, genetically modified plants and their invariable contamination of non-genetically modified crops, monoculture and other factors.
This book is recommended for readers with a passion for the environment and sustainable development.
It highlights how much work there is still to do and the urgency with which this work needs to be undertaken to reduce the loss of biodiversity across the world.
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