Harare/Johannesburg Zimbabwe, which is in the grip of
worsening power shortages, is destroying up to 1 million acres
(400,000 hectares) of forest each year, official media reported
Thursday.
The electricity cuts and a lack of tight surveillance by the
authorities has seen tree-felling increase by up to 100 per cent in
the last two years, the state-controlled Herald newspaper said.
Zimbabwe is suffering from chronic power shortages, with suburbs
in most towns and cities going for up to 15 hours a day without
electricity.
Two years ago the country was losing between 150,000 and 200,000
hectares of woodland each year, but the figure has since doubled, the
Herald said.
'We are losing our forests at an appalling rate,' Abednigo Marufu
of the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe said.
'People are going into the rural areas, protected areas and those
pieces of land that are still to be allocated under the land
redistribution exercise,' Marufu said.
He said the deforestation had worsened since extended power cuts
were introduced earlier this year to save energy. Many city dwellers
now have to cook on open fires, and firewood sales are brisk.
In May, Zimbabwe was controversially elected to the chair of the
UN's Commission on Sustainable Development.
The move came despite the increase in poaching and environmental
destruction since President Robert Mugabe's government began seizing
white-owned land seven years ago for redistribution to new black
farmers.
An editorial in the Herald Thursday said Zimbabwe's power
shortages should be declared a national disaster.
Three fertilizer firms were this week reported to have closed down
due to power shortages, threatening future crop yields in the
country, which is already facing massive shortfalls of food.
Experts have also predicted this year's wheat harvest is likely to
be the worst in seven years due to erratic power supplies that
disrupted irrigation and damaged pumps.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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