Munyaradzi Mawere
Mozambique like other countries in the sub-Saharan Africa and the world over is at high risk to the possessions of global warming and potentially facing ‘catastrophic’ changes in the physical environment, water sanity, agriculture, biodiversity and habitats and new pressures on human health and national economy. These problems are precipitated by a compound of malpractices such as poor farming methods and poor environmental management, lack of environmental ethics included. Drawing on several examples of Mozambique’s communal areas and Xai-Xai communal area as a case study, the paper demonstrates the complexities and subtle nuances of consolidating good environmental practices in a society riddled with abject poverty, high illiteracy levels, few or no Agricultural Extension Officers, weak erratic power supply, underdeveloped industrial base and cultural barriers that undermine sound environmental management. It argues that the institution of robust environmental practices at family, community, institutional and national levels should be constructively aligned with its grassroot implementation (at institutional levels) to foster epistemological access of peasant farmers to information linked to ‘sound’ environmental conservation practices, the development of ‘best practices’ of environmental management and a culturally responsive, knowledge rich environments. The paper further argues that to confront the adverse impacts and the jeopardy caused by environmental mismanagement, there is need for the government perhaps through the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture to establish a National Climate Change Monitoring Committee consisting of scientists and experts from different ministries and relevant bodies to help manage the environment and monitor climatic changes from local to national level
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