Accelerating Land Restoration for Drought Resilience in Zambia.

The theme for this year’s World Environment Day - “Accelerating Land Restoration for Drought Resilience in Zambia” - is timely and critical. Droughts in Zambia have become increasingly common and devastating due to climate change. In the face of prolonged droughts, further action can be taken to accelerate the restoration of our lands. 

Foresters, for example, who are essential to the restoration and maintenance of forests, are pleading to be employed in greater numbers, so the demands of forest concession areas can be more effectively met.

Concession holders are performing forest operations without the necessary guidance or oversight from experts, which is in turn accelerating the degradation of our environment.

Trained forestry personnel are vital for the restoration of Zambian forest-land; without these professionals, devastating and illegal activities, such as unauthorised logging, sand mining, and artisanal mining, can fly under the radar, causing further decline in the country’s forests. Such illegal activities have knock-on effects on wildlife, reducing biodiversity, reducing Zambia’s forests’ capacity to act as carbon sinks, while increasing the risk of wildfires. 

Wildfires pose a huge threat to the environment and are far more likely to occur during periods of drought.

Effective land restoration will require the collaboration of trained forestry personnel alongside other stakeholders to restore degraded forests and environments.

Expanding the effort to improve drought resilience, foresters also urge that local communities should be educated on sustainable land usage practices. To do this, they are promoting the concept of ‘agroforestry’ - that is, the integration of tree farming into standard farming. This can reduce the pressure on forests and improve the resilience of our general landscapes to drought. 

Successfully tackling the threat of drought and resultant wildfires in Zambia requires a variety of means.

Employing more trained foresters is a step in the right direction and will encourage efforts on a more local scale to implement more sustainable practices. Meanwhile, the enforcement of stricter regulations on activities in forests might lend further positive results - or perhaps the promise of alternative jobs for those who financially rely on these illegal activities. What is certain is that action must be taken to put an end to the drought issue.