Zimbabwe is a country of farmers. For many years, its maize, wheat, tobacco, and vegetables catered for much of the Southern African region, and its smallholder growers raised families on income-generating products like groundnuts, milk and meat, and vegetables. Political and economic instability in the early 2000s then led to difficulties, and, while most of the population was distracted, changes in climate began to affect the country’s agricultural productivity.
The signs were there in the form of lower water levels in Lake Kariba in the north, with smaller catches in the nets of fishers, and less water to turn the turbines of the Kariba Dam that generates electricity for much of the country. The rains that support crops and livestock have become erratic throughout Zimbabwe, alongside a general increase in mean annual temperature. Large cyclones have brought devastating floods in between the droughts, destroying livestock, homes, and the rich soils that nurture Zimbabwe’s crops. Increasing intensity and frequency of extreme events, together with rising unemployment, a shrinking economy, and the need to import staple foods, has meant more hardships for Zimbabwean people.
Climate change poses a major threat to sustainable development at all levels. It is becoming clear that Zimbabwe needs to adapt to the new conditions, and quickly.
Varied and valued experience
In 2012, a process to respond to climate challenges was initiated by the Government of Zimbabwe through the Department of Climate Change. This centred on the development of Zimbabwe’s National Climate Change Response Strategy. The strategy process was supported by several cooperating partners mobilised by the Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWP-SAF) through WACDEP: the United Nations Development Programme, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and researchers at the University of Zimbabwe. The process depended on coordination by the Office of the President, with government ministries representing all the climate-related sectors.
The cross-sectoral engagement process ensured that sector-specific plans for natural systems, economic sectors, and physical and social infrastructure were included in the strategy. Options for Zimbabwe’s climate change response, across the country’s varied geographic regions, were made clear.
Water as an organising principle
Contributors to the process recognised that, in a country with a large rural population, adaptation to climate change was going to depend on the understanding and engagement of local people and local government. WACDEP mobilised stakeholders from the country’s seven catchments and 47 sub-catchments in a series of meetings to discuss options for the national climate change response. As the statutory stakeholder institutions were empowered to manage water resources across Zimbabwe, representatives of the catchment authorities had much to say.
WACDEP’s emphasis was on integrating water security into the Climate Change Response Strategy, and in doing this it drew on specific expertise and experience from the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority. The process to develop the strategy was based on intensive national consultation, wherein GWP-SAF ensured that water sector stakeholders participated and water-related issues were captured and addressed in the strategy. Importantly, WACDEP enabled stakeholders to set priorities for financial investments that would be required to address climate change impacts caused by increased water stress.
Prepared for change
Zimbabwe’s National Climate Change Response Strategy was officially adopted by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate in July 2014 at a multistakeholder meeting that brought together 62 participants from different ministries, partner organisations, and other relevant departments.
Zimbabweans now have a guide for learning to live with warmer temperatures, unreliable rainfall, increasing extremes of weather, and declining availability of water. The strategy has become the main instrument driving the Nationally Determined Contributions and national adaptation planning in Zimbabwe. The process led by WACDEP to strengthen water security has ensured that climate change impacts related to water are addressed.