Tawanda Musarurwa
CHECK POINT DESK
Ratidzo Maregere* (not her real name) has been noticing the slow changes taking place over the years.
When she was a child she remembers the Msasa trees that shaded her family’s maize field in Sanyati, Mashonaland West province.
Today, she wakes at dawn to walk over five kilometres to find firewood.
“The big trees are gone. Even small branches are hard to find,” she says.
But, she may not be aware of the bigger picture just yet.
According to Global Forest Watch (GFW), from 2001 to 2024, Mashonaland West lost 31,6 kha (thousand hectares) of tree cover, equivalent to 13 percent of the tree cover area in 2000, and 8,99 metric tonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emissions.
For Mashonaland West, Sanyati is in the top two regions responsible for 60 percent of the province’s tree cover loss between 2001 and 2024.
Makonde had the most tree cover loss at 10,9 kha compared to an average of 2,43 kha; Sanyati is second with 8,12 kha.
Between 2001 and 2024, all tree cover loss in Mashonaland West happened in areas where the main cause was deforestation, according to GFW data.
The biggest drivers were mining (accounting for 79 hectares), settlements and infrastructure (62 hectares) and permanent agriculture (30,8 hectares).
The picture gets even bigger.
Zimbabwe’s forests have been steadily disappearing over the last three decades.
New figures from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)’s Global Forest Resources Assessment’s 2020 Zimbabwe country report shows a clear and measurable decline in forest area between 1990 and 2020.
Zim loses 1,38 million hectares in 30 years
In 1990, the country had just over 18,8 million hectares of forest. By 2020, this had declined to 17,44 million hectares, a net loss of 1,38 million hectares or about 7,3 percent of the total forest cover.
Year-by-year data shows that the decline was relatively steady. Between 1990 and 2000, forest area dropped by around 461 000 hectares.
The 2000s saw a sharper fall, with a loss of 460 000 hectares from 2000 to 2010.
By 2015, forest area stood at 17,67 million hectares and it continued to decline year after year, reaching 17,44 million hectares in 2020.
The annual losses averaged around 45 000 to 50 000 hectares per year in the 2010s.
Zimbabwe’s forests are declining primarily due to rapid agricultural expansion, often done without environmental safeguards.
Second, most rural households rely on fuelwood for energy, placing immense strain on nearby woodlands, especially as 61,4 percent of the population lives in rural areas, according to the 2022 Population and Housing Census.
Additionally, growing formal and artisanal mining activities, along with infrastructure developments, are contributing to widespread forest clearance.
How does Zimbabwe compare?
Neighbouring Zambia lost around 5,5 percent of its forests over the same 30-year period, shrinking from 47,4 million hectares in 1990 to 44,8 million hectares in 2020, while Namibia’s forests declined by 24,3 percent, from 8,76 million hectares to 6,63 million hectares.
Internationally, Italy’s forests grew by 25,8 percent, expanding from 7,68 million hectares in 1990 to 9,66 million hectares in 2020, while Australia’s naturally regenerating forest declined by 0,9 percent from 132,8 million hectares to 131,6 million hectares over the same period.
The data reveals starkly contrasting forest trends, with Namibia losing 24,3 percent of its forests while Italy gained 25,8 percent, highlighting how forest change is highly context-specific.
Carbon storage follows the same path
More than just being about trees, forests act as vast carbon stores.
Zimbabwe has since launched key climate frameworks, namely the Investment Framework for the Long-Term Low Emissions Development Strategy and has enhanced its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
In the latter, it claims its forests make it a net carbon sink.
But, data from the 2020 Global Forest Resources Assessment for Zimbabwe shows that forest carbon levels in the country have declined in step with tree cover.
In 1990, above-ground biomass held 49,35 tonnes of carbon per hectare, and below-ground biomass held 13,82 tonnes per hectares.
By 2020, above-ground biomass had dropped to 44,64 tonnes per hectare, and below-ground biomass had fallen to 12,50 tonnes per hectare.
That is a 10 percent drop in carbon stored in above-ground trees and a similar fall underground.
The sharpest decline appears between 2016 and 2017, when above-ground carbon fell from 49,41 to 44,65 tonnes per hectare, and below-ground from 13,83 to 12,50 tonnes per hectare, indicating either large-scale deforestation or significant degradation.
What does this mean for the climate change fight?
With climate funding tied to forest conservation, Zimbabwe’s disappearing woodlands may prove costly.
Disappearing forests can affect Zimbabwe’s net carbon sink status.
In line with various initiatives, such as the Climate Promise, the National Climate Policy and the National Adaptation Plan, Zimbabwe has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 33 percent per capita by 2030.
High deforestation levels could derail the country’s targets.
Biodiversity on the brink
Zimbabwe’s forests are dominated by miombo woodlands, rich in Msasa (Brachystegia spiciformis) and Munondo (Julbernardia globiflora), with Zambezi teak (Baikiaea plurijuga) in the west.
Deforestation destroys habitats and threatens wildlife, from elephants in Hwange to endemic orchids in the Eastern Highlands.
According to United Nations data, the number of threatened species in the country has increased from 60 in 2015 to 122 in 2020 and to 137 by 2024.
“Our forests regulate local rainfall patterns, protect soils and anchor rural economies,” said a local forest ecologist.
“Wild fruits like masawu (Ziziphus mauritiana), mazhanje (Uapaca kirkiana) and baobab leaves, for example, are key seasonal food sources. But deforestation is disrupting these supplies.”
Who owns Zimbabwe’s forests?
Most of the country’s forests are publicly-owned, with 8,94 million hectares held by the state, according to the FAO report.
Private forests, just over 100 000 hectares consisting mostly exotic plantations like pine and eucalyptus, are owned by three major companies, making up less than 1 percent of total forest area.
The Forest Act (Chapter 19:05) also protects around 800 864 hectares of forest, comprising Gazetted Forests area (800 258 hectares) and Chirinda Forest (606 hectares).
These forests have remained stable over the 30-year period.
As indicated above, the majority of Zimbabwe’s forests are publicly-owned, but while the Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20:27) empowers the Environmental Management Agency to penalise illegal deforestation, the problem has continued.
What a 2015 FAOSTAT land recalculation changed
The total land area for Zimbabwe was standardised in 2015 using updated FAOSTAT (FAO Corporate Statistical Database) figures, set at 38,68 million hectares for all years (1990 to 2020).
This adjustment means the proportions of forested and non-forested land are now measured consistently across decades.
It also means some earlier forest loss estimates, such as the approximately 5 million hectares calculated using older deforestation rates, are inflated.
A path forward?
Zimbabwe’s commitments under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 (Life on land) require halting deforestation and restoring degraded forests.
And initiatives along these lines are currently underway.
“Under the UN joint programme of the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund, in partnership with FAO, UNDP and similar initiatives by WFP, the UN has been supporting hard-to-reach communities in producing biogas for domestic use.
“This reduces firewood consumption, thus alleviating deforestation,” said UN resident and humanitarian coordinator Mr Edward Kallon last week.
Experts propose a multi-prong approach, including reforestation and agroforestry, integrating trees into farmland to boost resilience and carbon storage; improved monitoring, combining satellite imagery – Zimbabwe has since launched two satellites – and field inventories for accurate data, and stronger policy and funding, aligning forest management with climate goals and rural development.
It’s not all gloom
There is light at the end of the tunnel, thanks to initiatives such as Development Aid from People to People (DAPP Zimbabwe)’s Cook Stoves Project, which by 2023 had delivered 90 000 cook stoves across Mutasa, Makoni, Chimanimani districts, and in Masvingo province.
According to its 2024 report, the project “focused on maintaining and repairing existing cook stoves, engaging and training community leaders and volunteers and promoting climate change mitigation.”
The organisation is also driving agroforestry (planting trees on farms).
Through its Farmers’ Clubs in Chivi, DAPP Zimbabwe is collaborating with the Forestry Commission to train farmers in afforestation, resulting in the successful planting of 2 200 fruit trees and 110 grafted lemon and orange trees.
And the 200-kilowatt solar mini-grid commissioned at Hwakwata village in Chipinge last year, offers another scalable model.
UN secretary-general Mr António Guterres believes clean energy can help countries meet their climate goals.
“Clean energy spurs development. It can reach the hundreds of millions of people still living without electricity – quickly, affordably and sustainably, particularly through off-grid and small-scale solar technologies,” he said in a July 2025 op-ed titled ‘A moment of opportunity: supercharging the clean energy age’.
The country’s forests are disappearing quietly, but the consequences are profound – for women like Ratidzo walking further each day, for wildlife losing their habitats and for a nation that frames itself as a net carbon sink.
Protecting what remains and restoring what was lost is not just about meeting global targets; it is about safeguarding livelihoods, securing climate finance opportunities and building the resilience needed for a future already shaped by climate change.
THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE HERALD –
https://www.heraldonline.co.zw/the-hidden-costs-of-zims-disappearing-forests/