The Issue
Between 1990 and 2000, Zimbabwe lost an average of 312,900 hectares of forest per year. This amounts to an average annual deforestation rate of 1.41%.
The Project
DanChurchAid is investing in climate mitigation and adaptation by planting 400.000 trees over the next three years to increase carbon sequestration and continue promoting and investing in climate adaptive programming. To achieve this DCA is conducting natural resource management training, establishing woodlots fed from local nurseries and, promoting afforestation in areas where there is massive deforestation.
This intervention is funded by the UNDP and Global Environmental Fund (GEF) Project, and the Swedish Embassy in Zimbabwe. It will be implemented in the middle and lower Zambezi Valley as part of a multisectoral programme benefitting local smallholder farmers and communities.
Tobacco farming is one of the biggest contributors to deforestation in the country, thus the programme seeks to provide communities with alternative forms of livehoods.
The Change
DanChurchAid has calculated its carbon footprint for the last 100 years and is taking responsibility for historical and future emissions. “We are not only facing a climate crisis, but we are also facing an unfair crisis. Those with historic responsibility for global warming, should turn their past into action,” says DCA’s Global Climate Lead, Mattias Söderberg.
“In DanChurchAid we are firsthand witnesses to how climate change displaces communities and causes food insecurity for millions of people worldwide. For us, the obvious thing is to set an example and to pioneer new standards of climate responsibility. It benefits people who are already facing severe droughts, floods, and extreme weather due to climate change,” continued Mr. Söderberg.
The Results
By planting 400,000 trees in the middle and lower Zambezi Valley, DCA is reducing the rate of deforestation and directly addressing climate change in Zimbabwe’s most vulnerable communities.
About the project
- Full title: Chengetai Project
- Period: July 2022 – June 2024
- Partner: My Trees, Zambezi Valley Conservation Network, FACHIG
- Amount: USD 150,000
- DCA Strategy Theme: Build Resilient Communities
- Number of people reached (est.): 6,250
- Donor: United Nations Development Programme
