Environmental and wildlife conservation in Zimbabwe has in recent years gained urgency after reports of large-scale illegal exploitation of the country’s natural resources.
Despite legislation that punishes environmental violations such as sand and wildlife poaching, the country’s economic hardships are driving illegal activities as residents seek to earn a living, analysts say. Responding to poisoned watering holes that have led to the deaths of hundreds of elephants, deforestation and iauthorities struggle to address what they say has become a troubling environmental crisis.
Against this background, the known by their Latin abbreviation AMR (Ancillae Mariae Reginae), in Lupane, a rural district about 100 miles north of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, are engaging young students to raise environmental awareness.
While the government in the conservation of natural resources, this has proven difficult as impoverished villagers take matters into their own hands, illegally exploiting protected resources for economic benefit.
Hunting and trapping game and wildlife has become common in Zimbabwe, with the country’s national parks agency reporting a spike in amid shrinking forests and animal habitat.
The AMR sisters have taken a different approach by appealing to young people to be protectors of the environment. They have turned to young learners to participate in public campaigns in the country’s natural resource-rich but economically poor northwest.
Sr. Mildred Chiriseri, the AMR secondary school head (Courtesy of Mildred Chiriseri)
With thousands of people who have left school lacking formal employment, community leaders say illegal activities harmful to the environment have become the go-to way to earn a living. There are reports across the country of school children abandoning their classes to join the gold rush as illegal artisanal miners popularly known as amakorokoza. Young people engaging in these activities have been caught up in bloody turf wars that have claimed the lives of scores of illegal miners.
By targeting young people, the AMR sisters aim to stem what has become a national cause for concern, with the authorities struggling to control illegal activities harmful to the environment.
While Catholic development agencies have worked with local communities in Zimbabwe’s rural areas to deal with climate-related issues, especially in agriculture, Catholic sisters are working to address the intersection of development and the environment.
Among the initiatives to promote environmental awareness, the AMR sisters who run a primary and secondary school in Lupane organized their students to take part in the Oct. 21, 2023, Binga Kasambabezi Marathon.
“What informed the decision to organize the students to take part in the Binga environmental awareness marathon was that the marathon’s values align with the school’s values, curriculum and long-term goals of environmental awareness,” Sr. Mildred Chiriseri, the AMR secondary school head, told EarthBeat. The marathon was part of broader community engagement efforts, she added.
The Binga Kasambabezi Marathon was launched in 2017 by the government’s ministry of youth, sports, arts and recreation.
The sisters participated in the 2023 marathon because they saw an urgent need to bring such wildlife and environmental awareness to their local community, especially young school children.