THE negative effects of climate change and global warming are no longer a far-fetched story people would read about in the papers or hear on the news.
These effects are with us every day through issues like the drought the country is going through right now, frequent floods and unusually high temperatures among others.
Even the hugely celebrated Kuomboka Traditional ceremony no longer has as much water to support the migration as it used to have just two decades ago.
Things are getting worse with reduced rainfall when there is no drought.
This can only mean reduced crop yield and a big dent in Zambia’s food security.
Yet, the reasons behind all these problems are very well known to all.
It is also true that there is some part of this problem that goes beyond the people of Zambia or Africa as a continent but it is also a fact that there are some things that fall right within our reach.
In Zambia, the worst culprit leading to climate change is deforestation and carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
Though people have not paid attention to this, Zambia is over-dependent on charcoal and firewood, both being agents of the dreaded climate change.
In the domestic sector, the main sources of energy are firewood and charcoal with firewood accounting for 60 per cent of the country’s energy demand.
Charcoal is mainly used in urban and peri-urban areas whereas firewood is used in rural households.
This is way too high and the call for actions to curb this is of utmost urgency.
We support the actions of the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment led by its Minister- Collins Nsovu.
In our sister newspaper the Sunday Times of Zambia, we yesterday carried a story that the Forestry Department had impounded six trucks laden with charcoal and two carrying timber in line with enforcing the charcoal ban.
Mr Nzovu reminded everyone during the operation that the Government did not believe charcoal was the alternative to the energy deficit the country was currently experiencing and was therefore determined to enforce the ban.
Unfortunately, Zambians quickly resort to charcoal under the wrong pretext that it is cheaper yet the opposite is the truth besides the harmful effects on the environment.
Charcoal should not be an alternative energy source in Zambia.
Apart from the carbon emissions, charcoal leads to deforestation, which directly impacts the amount of rainfall with fallen levels per year lately directly related to the huge deforestation.
Zambians will have to take a stand and cut down on using Charcoal and firewood.
As the minister advised, we say it is time Zambians turned their minds to the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) which is an alternative and cost-effective energy source.