Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Counts Cost of Wildfires As Communities Urged to Fight Back
[263Chat] Local communities have been urged to work with authorities and other stakeholders to prevent veldfires as the country battles an increasing threat from climate change and human activity.
Zimbabwe's Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has issued a warning about the increasing threat of wildfires due to climate change and human activity. Thousands of hectares of land have already been destroyed by fires in 2025, with property, infrastructure, and livelihoods at risk. EMA's Amkela Sidange emphasized that preventing wildfires is a collective effort, not the responsibility of a single sector.
The agency's mandate is to protect natural resources from degradation and pollution while ensuring environmental sustainability. Fires have destroyed lodges, forestry equipment, farming machinery, and energy infrastructure. The agency is strengthening fire monitoring and reporting using remote sensing technology and community reports to identify vulnerable areas.
At least 748 fire incidents were recorded between July and August 2025, affecting 276,828 hectares of land. The prescribed fire season runs from July 31 to October 31, but climate change is causing fires to occur outside this period.
Written by urgent.news from AllAfrica's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
