Zimbabwe: Energy Crisis Threatens Environment

Always anticipated, as demand outstripped supply in Southern Africa due to growth and expansion of urban areas as well as reduced water levels due to successive seasons of drought, the question is as we focus on the energy crisis, who is minding the environment? Needless to say, the negative effects of the energy crisis are already being felt across Zimbabwe through increased deforestation.

It is thus crucial that the nation and indeed the region find alternative sources of energy to avert a major environmental crisis.
Population growth has been occurring without corresponding development in energy production, compelling many countries to increase resource exploitation and accelerating environmental deterioration.

With increased urbanisation and industrialisation the situation is worsening, as more energy is needed.

As can be seen in Zimbabwe, urban centres have become a lucrative market for fuelwood because it seems to be relatively available and cheaper than modern fuels. Not only will the alternative forms of energy be a major boost to national economies but such environmental damage as global warming, partly responsible for the recurrent droughts in East and Southern Africa, can also be mitigated.

The Forestry Company of Zimbabwe recently indicated that the country is losing large swathes of forestry, as much as 400 000 hectares annually as a result of the energy crisis.

More and more people are turning to fuelwood as the energy crisis takes its toll in sub-Saharan Africa.

Urban demand for fuelwood is accelerating the degradation of woody vegetation.

In Zimbabwe, advanced deforestation and soil erosion in marginal areas with poor rainfall has forced many people to migrate to urban areas and in so doing increasing the demand for electricity.

Deforestation is affecting many rural people, and is caused primarily by the need for fuelwood for the curing of tobacco and tea, by excessive felling of timber for domestic and export markets, by agricultural production, by urbanisation, by bushfires, and, more significantly, by demand for fuelwood by both rural and urban households.

As more land around the towns and cities is further depleted of its remaining vegetation, a vicious cycle of soil erosion is set in motion.

Not only is the energy crisis affecting the generation of power but the use of fossil fuel is also impoverishing the majority of Africans as more and more funds of the national budget go towards the importation of oil and other petroleum products.

With world crude oil prices nearing US$80 a barrel, economies across Africa are suffering under soaring energy costs.

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