From Awareness to Action: Establishing a Policy and Governance Framework for the Protection and Restoration of Harare's Wetlands

About this project

In July 2025, Zimbabwe hosted the 15th Ramsar COP and assumed its presidency for a three-year term, committing on a global platform to strengthening wetland protection at home and worldwide. This major international event also came at a time of heightened public concern over growing water challenges and environmental destruction nationally, but especially in Harare which is in a water crisis, and where wetlands remain under constant threat as the city rapidly grows and the climate changes. Altogether, this has created unprecedented political will from Government of Zimbabwe especially the key Ministry of Environment and associated agencies which face accusations of negligence or even complicity in inappropriate developments over the years. With support from the Netherlands Embassy in 2024–2025, BirdLife Zimbabwe (BLZ) built on its long-standing wetland conservation work to substantially elevate awareness and concern across public, private, and government sectors. During this period, BLZ collaborated closely with key ministries, parliament, government agencies, and the City of Harare to strengthen understanding of wetlands’ vital role in securing the city’s water supply and to outline and promote the urgent policy reforms needed to ensure their long-term protection while also supporting strong participation of CSOs at COP15, and providing progressive policy advice to Government of Zimbabwe during that event. Building on these results, this project seeks to turn awareness into…

Published by

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands · Government

Countries

Zimbabwe

Sectors

Democratic participation and civil society

Focus

Environment · Main focusGood governance · Main focusTrade development · Main focusClimate mitigation · Also contributesClimate adaptation · Main focus

Funded by

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands

Implemented by

BirdLife Zimbabwe

Accountable

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands

Passes funds through

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands

Published by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), last updated 3 Sept 2026 and imported automatically. IATI identifier: XM-DAC-7-PPR-250002516.

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