By Tavita Natasha Mpala
The Southern Africa Resource Watch in partnership with Green Governance Zimbabwe Trust held a youth and women energy transition symposium in Masvingo to equip them with knowledge and information on the energy transition agenda.
In an interview with Gzu Campus Radio the director for Green Governance Zimbabwe Trust Frank Mpahlo stated it is important for young people to influence policy formulation processes given that Zimbabwe is endowed with the largest deposit of lithium in Africa.
“This symposium was aimed at equipping women and young people with information around the energy transition which is happening globally but also locally. You know in Zimbabwe we have lithium which is one of the critical minerals and Zimbabwe has the largest deposit of lithium in Africa. Within the energy transition sector, it is important story for young people to understand that for the purposes of them influencing the policy formulation process as we don’t have a policy formulation around lithium management in Zimbabwe. Young people need to be equipped to understand what it means for country like Zimbabwe to have lithium and what it means for there to be a policy which regulates the mining and value addition of lithium.”
He also added on to state that young people must be empowered to take part and lead climate change action plans at both local and national levels.
“Young people should be able to be a part of climate action plans by government; the government has many policies on climate change but at local level young people should be able to lead those climate action plans. It can be mitigation projects by government or private sector or climate adaptation projects. Young people need to led these discussions particularly those in the rural set up as they are the most affected by the effects of climate change.”
In a separate interview the programs manager for Youth Initiative for Community Development Kudakwashe Ronnie Makanda said that the workshop on transitional minerals enhanced their capacity to advocate for the environment.
“The advent of social media has brought to light a lot issues to do with the environment, with the youth at the forefront this movement. There has been an increase of the number of cases of misconduct by mining companies being aired out leading to ignition on conversations around that on social media. Young people have to document the evidence of the various misconducts being perpetuated against the environment and broadcast the evidence on public domains to engage the responsible stakeholders to proffer solutions to the existing problems.”