By Macdonald Mudzaki
CHIREDZI — A climate advocacy event combining poetry, traditional music and indigenous storytelling is set for Chiredzi this weekend on 6 June 2026, as communities commemorate World Environment Day through creative climate action initiatives.
The Climate ArtVocacy Day, to be held at Westwood Lodge, is being co-organised by Clima21st Zimbabwe and the Lowveld Rural Development Initiative. The event will bring together youth poets, traditional dancers, elders, government officials and environmental agencies in a programme designed to address the psychological and social impacts of climate change on Lowveld communities.
Organisers say the region’s exposure to prolonged droughts, erratic rainfall patterns and destructive weather events has created a silent climate trauma that continues to affect livelihoods, community wellbeing and resilience.
Justus Salani, Co-Director of Clima21st Zimbabwe, said art remains a powerful tool for communicating climate realities in ways that resonate with communities.
“Facts inform the mind, but art reaches the heart and stays in memory. When someone performs a poem about failed rains, complex scientific information becomes a shared story,” Salani said.
The programme will feature performances by mbira ensembles, Xibelani dancers and spoken-word artists, alongside presentations from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), ZimParks, Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe, and the Ministry of Agriculture. A keynote address is expected from representatives of the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife.
A key outcome of the event will be the creation of a Living Cultural Archive, which will preserve performances, indigenous stories and local climate narratives for distribution to schools, community radio stations and educational institutions.
Organisers say Chiredzi was deliberately chosen to decentralise climate programming, which has traditionally been concentrated in Harare, while amplifying the voices of marginalised communities, particularly the Shangaan people, whose indigenous knowledge systems and artistic traditions carry valuable environmental lessons.
The event is expected to attract community leaders, youth organisations, environmental practitioners, policymakers and cultural practitioners from across the Lowveld region.
