Villagers at Clipsham farm just outside Masvingo are calling for the planting of trees programme after gold panners left a spate of land degradation in their area.
The villagers told Hevoi FM News that gold panning is rampant in their area and no awareness campaigns to protect the environment have been done by authorities.
“We are calling on authorities such as the Environmental Management Agency and Forestry Commission to embark on an awareness campaign as our environment has been damaged due to mining activities,”said the villagers.
“We are calling authorities to act as some of our livestock are getting injured after falling into the trenches dug by the miners,”added another villager.
Villagers are also urging the relevant authorities to embark on tree planting campaign to fill up the trenches left by the gold miners.
“We are appealing to the Forestry Commission to embark on a tree planting campaign before the onset of the rainy season as the situation here is unbearable,”the villagers said.
Clipsham farm area has some gold panners who are carrying out some mining activities and leave a trail of destruction to the environment.
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