Carbon group recommends private-public partnerships
THE Zimbabwe Carbon Association (ZCA), a group that represents the country in discussions around carbon credits has recommended private-public partnerships towards establishing the Green Fund for Zimbabwe.
The country has made significant strides in the drive towards environmental conservation with several smart initiatives including regenerative agriculture and coming up with the environmental framework around carbon credits trading.
Zimbabwe sent three members as part of the official Zimbabwe delegates from the Apex Body for Women in Agriculture to attend the important global summit, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which ended yesterday.
These are Mr Nick de Swardt, who is chair of the ZCA and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Cicada Group, Ms, Chiyedza Heri, the CEO of Ubuntu Alliance and Dr Zorodzai Maroveke, chair of the Zimbabwe Industrial Hemp Trust.
“Our group attended many side events over the last week, with a focus on funds open for Zimbabwe, biodiversity and natural capital valuation and credits, and Integrity and Standards,” said the group in an update report.
“It is up to us how to respond to these perceptions of Zimbabwe, but as an association, we believe that there is an opportunity to turn these negative views around if all stakeholders can work closely together.
“It was sobering to see that Zimbabwe is not on the radar. In many interactions, we noted that global attention is focused on resolving the issues of countries that are either big emitters, have globally important carbon sinks, or have large populations.
“As a country, we are not on the radar seeing that we are a very small part of the problem are not part of the tropical forest belt, and have a relatively small population,” said the group.
Zimbabwe seeks to attract the much-needed finance to support the climate adaptation sector and it has been noted that the small-scale sector is the most affected by climate change.
“The world is looking for solutions to the climate crisis – we have an opportunity to present a truly credible, investible mechanism for driving climate adaptation finance across the region.
“We urge the Government to consider the benefits of forging a strong public-private partnership to harness the execution capacity and balance sheets of willing local private sector players to deliver the much-needed finance to develop credible, high integrity projects in the country and beyond,” read the ZCA report.
The ZCA said Zimbabwe should investigate the potential to raise funds for regional initiatives such as the Sadc Great Green Wall, and Kaza as part of efforts.
It observed deliberate misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Zimbabwe policy framework and legislative stability by some sections of the world including global media, especially around the carbon markets.
“The association believes that we can get in front of this bad press and misrepresentation by presenting a united front with the Government and illustrating actual projects that are working on the ground,” said the group.
“We propose establishing a Project Accelerator Group with the Government, that will fast-track the registration and operation of critical projects that are funded, certified by a standards body, and aligned to Government policy.”
The ZCA promotes the establishment of a Green Fund for Zimbabwe. As a private sector initiative, it aims to raise money for commercial projects that align with national commitments such as solar, reforestation, commercial forestry, and waste management.
“To develop this market, there is a need for consensus on how to quantify and value biodiversity, and how to regulate trade in these units.
“We propose setting up a Biodiversity Task Force with the Ministry of Environment to put forward proposals on these issues,” reads the report. -chronicle
