The second annual Green Expo and Conference is to be held later this month at Harare Gardens and Crown Plaza Hotel.
An initiative of Zimbabwe Sunshine Group (ZSG), preparations are at an advanced stage. The events is to host many exhibitors including visual artists and various corporates.
The event will run under the theme ‘Ensuring environmental sustainability and environmental conservation.’
Event organiser Ronny Mbaisa gave Harare News an update on preparations: “We have so far registered 32 craft people and 10 companies. We realised that most visual artists use recycled materials in constructing their work which is a great way of conserving our environment.”
To have a place at the Expo, visual artists do not pay for a stand aside from a $10 accreditation fee.
This is thanks to an arrangement that ZSG made with the Ministry of Gender, Community Affairs and Women Development.
ZSG was formed by a group of youth who have dedicated themselves to promote, educate and inform the public on environmental issues. It is registered under Zimbabwe Youth Council and works closely with the Ministry of Environment Natural Resources Management in collaboration with several other players including Environment Africa.
With this year’s Green Expo, ZSG aims to bring together the corporate world and residents of Harare in a bid to create an engagement platform on environmental issues. Dairybord Zimbabwe and Mega Pak are among the participating corporates.
“It’s hard to walk into company premises and engage them in a fruitful talk on environmental issues but when it comes to the Expo and Conference, everyone gets to be heard. This is one of the reasons why we are holding the Expo alongside a conference at Crown Plaza,” said Tatenda Tavaziva, ZSG Public Relations Officer
He also said there are growing concerns about the rate at which Global Warning is affecting the capacity of the earth to sustain lives which is mainly caused by the negative carbon footprint of products and services.
“Responding to the emergency, our organisation will be adopting First Street Shopping Mall to turn it into a green street during the course of this year. Business, institutions and communities have a role to play in reducing, tracing and managing the carbon foot print of their products and services,” he said.
He called on individuals and companies who wish to exhibit: “The Green Expo gives you an opportunity to interact with potential investors, policy makers and members of the public.”
Visual artist Tapiwa Mushava is happy to be exhibiting. “This is a great initiative towards achieving a green economy. It also gives us an opportunity to market our products to a greater audience as compared to a few people who visit galleries,” he said.
Resident of Ashdown Park, James Zveushe, commended ZSG for creating a platform that gives citizens a voice about the environment: “As citizens we have concerns over the way some companies act irresponsibly and we don’t have the power to confront them. This is a great opportunity for us to air our concerns.”
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