25 May 2014

Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states have been urged to work together in order to combat forest fires.

An official from the SADC Secretariat, Mr Moses Chakanga said the cooperation will help to mitigate the destruction brought forth by forest fires for the benefit of people who utilise forest resources to supplement their livelihoods.

Mr Chakanga was presenting at the SADC Regional Fire Management Programme at the 3rd National Wild Land Fire Management conference, themed ‘Fire management: from vulnerability to resilience’ in Maun recently.

He said SADC policy framework for sustainable forest management calls upon member states to collaborate to protect forests; prevent and suppress uncontrolled fires, and facilitate trans-border assistance in emergency situations.

Mr Chakanga also said fire management and cross border cooperation is one of the eight priority strategic areas for the programme development under the SADC Forestry Strategy 2010–2020. Furthermore, he said SADC secretariat monitors implementation of regional programmes, resource mobilisation for SADC regional programmes as well as facilitate development of the said programme with member states.

The estimated budget for the programme is US$ 5 million for five years and the major constraint to implementing the programme is garnering the required finance.

He said they will need financial support from SADC member states as well as international cooperating partners (ICP‘s).

Despite this, Mr Chakanga however said currently they have been receiving support from different entities like Mweka College of African Wildlife Management (CAWM) and government of Japan.

For his part, Maun East MP, Mr Frank Ramsden commended the efforts of the SADC fire management programme and urged the various stakeholders to involve the community so that they too could contribute in fighting forest fires.

He also called on the Department of Forestry and Range Resources (DFRR) to conduct an extensive research that will provide methods of preventing and addressing forest fires. ENDS