CLIMATE CHANGE ZAMBIA NEEDS TO BE PROACTIVE

The Minister of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, the honourable Wilbur C Simuusa, honourable ministers, excellencies, the press, ladies & gentlemen Zambia has an opportunity to really make a difference to climate change. By size we are rated 2nd in order of the fastest countries in the world to be deforested. We have room for big change. We use 12 million bags of charcoal annually, worth $63 million this equates to K333,2 billion or 12,000ha of land clear felled annually. The charcoal has a 100% subsidy on production. I take this opportunity to announce a pilot scheme being undertaken by the Kitwe City Council, NGOs and commercial companies that are proposing a scheme to make Kitwe a charcoal free city. This to be followed 6 months later by Lusaka. We are planning to introduce two stoves. The Sawduster, which uses sawdust, and the Peko Pe which uses sawdust pellets. These materials are abundant on the Copperbelt. By pelletising we can move the sawdust economically down the line of rail using the cheaper back loads. We are looking to all NGOs, donor agencies, private companies and especially the government to join with us to make this a success. We do however have numerous hurdles, the main one being the training of 1,000,000 people and their dependants in the charcoal industry, to develop alternative skills. We propose that carbon credits be paid to farmers that change their agricultural practice to permaculture or agroforestry and receive their credits annually. If their land holdings are carbon credible, If all farmers plant trees Zambia would be in a better position to supply the region with timber. Without pine, building costs are very high. Pine is resistant to borer beetle, making it the most sought after roofing timber, and it is considerably cheaper than steel, AND HUGLEY LESS DAMAGING. THE CARBON IN TIMBER IS SEQUENTED IN YOUR ROOF. We have 1,250,000 farmers in Zambia. We need them each to plant 1 lima. We will then multiply by 5 the plantations managed by Zaffico. With carbon credits and the promotion of tree planting, we can make a huge contribution to climate change and the sustainable economic benefit to Zambia and all zambians. I thank the honorable minister, Wilbur Simuusa, for creating and enabling environment to make this a reality.

Presented By Nick OConnor representing the private sector A Trustee of the Copperbelt Sawmillers and timber growers association (COSTIGA) at media briefing pre Reo R10+20 14TH JUNE 2012 oconnors.nick@gmail.com