By Winston Muleba JR
Most vital surface water
bodies in developing countries are under serious threat of degradation
resulting from constant discharge of polluted effluents stemming from
industrial, agricultural, mining and domestic/sewage activities and Kafue river is
not an exception.
The most affected river
systems are those traversing cities and towns in urban areas. The Kafue River
in Zambia is one such river that is threatened with serious degradation and
probable loss of biodiversity.
Kafue River cuts across
the country in a North–South direction, stretches for about 1576 km before
draining into the Zambezi River.
Biodiversity is a
manifestation of the totality of the nation’s natural and cultural heritage
that requires to be understood appreciated and used sustainably. It plays an important function most
often not recognized: the maintenance of ecological balance through processes
such as the water and nutrient cycling, control of erosion and thus deterrence
of land degradation, regulation of climatic factors such as temperature and
rainfall through carbon sequestration, and in the production of crops through
pollination.
Loss of biodiversity with
respect to the variety of animals, plants, their habitats and their genes on
which so much of human life depends, is one of the world’s most pressing
crises. The main drivers of this loss are converting natural areas to farming
and urban development, introducing invasive alien species, polluting or
over-exploiting resources including water and soils and harvesting wild plants
and animals at unsustainable levels.
In Zambia, Kafue River is
an important habitat for a large variety of animals and plants, this include fish,
amphibians, birds, insects, invertebrates, and reptiles that live in this
river, or find their food there. This river play a vital role in connecting
habitats, and their value to plants and animals extends far beyond the surface
area they cover. This habitat connectivity role functions both between upstream
and downstream areas, and by connecting both sides of river banks. This
necessitates an approach to management that looks at the river basin as a whole
rather than just taking into account the river itself.
Without a global
environment that is healthy and capable of supporting a diversity of life, no
human population can exist.
Fish biodiversity
conservation is perhaps one of the most neglected areas of biodiversity
conservation in Zambia. In
wildlife biodiversity management, several subspecies conservation strategies
have been developed directed at securing particular animal species and these
include rhino, elephant, crocodile, wild dog and tortoise.
In recent years, the
depletion of natural resources specifically fish has become a major focus of
governments and organizations such as the United Nations (UN). This is evident
in the UN's Agenda 21 Section Two, which outlines the necessary steps to be taken
by countries to sustain their natural resources.
The depletion of natural
resources is considered to be a sustainable development issue. With respect to natural
resources, depletion is of concern for sustainable development as it has the
ability to degrade current environments and potential to impact the needs of
future generations when in the actual sense biological resources support the
livelihoods of a vast majority of rural populations and for commercial
exploitation at a national level.
The benefits derived from
natural resources contribute to the wealth of Zambia in a number of different
ways – at the level of households, communities or provinces, from a variety of
different sectors, including energy, tourism, food, livestock, pharmaceuticals
and forestry. Ash for shifting cultivation is from burning forests and
woodlands. Forests also provide timber, energy, household tools and
construction material. Plants and animals are important sources of food.
Medicines and other valuable chemicals products are obtained from both plants
and animals.
The Kafue river basin is
also core in poverty reduction in Zambia since it does not only provide a
livelihood for communities living in the basin but also offer a life support to
industrial, mining and agricultural sectors, the majors sectors that provide
employment and sources of income as well as survival to most Zambia urban
population.
Projections indicate that
about 80% of Zambians live in income poverty and suffer from other deprivation
such as little access and poor quality of the social services. The Kafue River
drains is one of the greatest stratiform metallogenic rivers, especially on the
Copperbelt Province in Zambia (Unrug, 1988 as cited by Pettersson and Ingri,
2001) and further passes through major industrial, mining and agricultural
provinces in the country carrying with it a variety of pollutant loads which
include chemical pollutants that may cause poisoning of the aquatic life and
might eventually lead to death, nutrients have been linked to the proliferation
of aquatic weeds (i.e. Salvinia molesta)
and may lead to eutrophication, blocking of navigation routes, increased BOD
and COD concentrations, decrease in overall dissolved oxygen (DO)
concentration, etc. Furthermore, ingestion of chemically polluted water could
have fatal effects to both humans and animals.
The involvement of
non-governmental stakeholders and the public in policy making and
implementation has been recognized as an important feature in environmental
governance. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals recognizes the participation of
non-state actors in all levels of governance because they act as a resource
pool of local knowledge in project implementation, strengthen institutions of
accountability, encourage the efficient use of resources, among others.
Participatory governance has been defined as "the active involvement of
citizens in government decision-making”.
The running and
management of public affairs is not limited to the government and public
administration, but involves cooperation between state institutions and civil
society groups who participate in decision-making and implementation.
Participatory governance
is a key attribute of good governance, especially in states that have economies
in transition, are newly democratic, or are engaging in governance reforms
because it integrates all stakeholders irrespective of their status and
capacity in society, and it is essential in implementing equitable sustainable
development.
Kafue river is very
polluted with different chemicals from different Manufacturing and Mining
companies which contribute to the depletion of the indigenous fish species in
the Kafue river seeing that the effluent discharged in the river contains
different chemicals and materials therefore, in trying to conserve the Kafue
river biodiversity companies which discharges their effluent in the Kafue river
especially on the
Copperbelt and Lusaka provinces should consider conserving the biodiversity of
the river through restocking of the river with fries and above all to comply
with the waste water regulation standard from Zambia Environmental Management
Agency. This also calls engagement of serious measures and policies from the government of restocking the
river with fish by the perpetrators.
It is suffice to say that
some mines and other companies ought to be commended for having taken
initiative and challenging task of doing the restocking after realizing the
importance of the fish to human health in the community and the importance of
conserving the aquatic biodiversity. Indeed this is one of the corporate
responsibilities that the private industries should embrace.
About
the Author
Winston Muleba Junior is a Digital
Journalist, Aquaculturist, Researcher, Writer and Disaster Management Practitioner
who uses media and ICT to promote environmental
conservation; science, technology and innovation. He gravitates towards environment,
water, aquaculture and agriculture as he is skilled at juxtaposing the latest
research and expert opinion with the everyday lives and struggles of people on
the ground.
Email: mwenyamuleba@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment