TREES FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIATION FOR THE MARANGE COMMUNITY .

Ever since the discovery of the Diamond in Marange, The Marange Community has been in the spotlight for mainly the wrong reasons . Operations in Marange have been marred by killings, brutality, forced labour and angry community members who have either been relocated without compensation, have relative graves moved without prior agreement with family members or a lack of uplifting the standards of living for community members.

 

Centre for Natural Resources Governance, a non profit organisation together with other CBOs working in the Marange Community have been holding a yearly memorial event to remember Diamond mining related deaths and degradation. This year (2019) Environmental Buddies Zimbabwe had the privileged to participate in the Marange Commemoration. As an organisation that promotes sustainable development, we acknowledge the impacts of mining on the community, environments and the economy. We appreciate the contribution of mining activities to the Country’s GDP and economic growth.  However we don’t forget the degradation it cause to the environment and society.

Social Impacts include:

• Loss of human life
• High school drop out
• Use of child labour
• Moral erosion with most girls involved in prostitution.
• High prevalence of diseases especially sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV/AIDS related disease.

Environmental Degradation includes:

• Deforestation
• Air pollution
• Loss of animal habitat
• Loss of grazing land for livestock
• Water pollution leading to human and animal death.

This year, EBZ worked on FOSTERING RECONCILIATION THROUGH TREE PLANTING. This is an approach that uses tree planting as a sign and expression of hope for genuine reconciliation and sustainable peace within the community. EBZ encouraged Marange Community to face their fears, address their anger and bitterness using this homegrown approach – that is, tree planting. Tree planting acted as a catalyst and enabled stakeholder to interact, laying the foundation for deep transformation through dialogue between former victim and perpetrators and other relevant stakeholders.

This tree planting had a symbolic and practical significance. The act of planting symbolised the laying of new foundations for a transformed relationship, which needs to be nurtured at all times. The act of nurturing the tree by the Marange Community will symbolise the persistent effort that will be required to transform the community through peaceful engagements. The growth of the two trees planted at the venue and thirty trees distributed to traditional leaders represents the fostering of reconciliation, a process that can transcend several generations of human society. The planting of a tree also created a space where the Marange Community members will physically meet, have dialogue on issues that hinder their reconciliation, vent their frustrations anger and bitterness at the same time discuss possible and practical solutions that are adapted to their specific situation.

 

EBZ encouraged the Marange community to preserve their forests resources as they are their heritage. Diamonds will not last forever in the community, but forests remain a reliable source of livelihood for the Marange community both before and after the Diamond ERA.