MUTARE – The damage caused by the ravaging Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani and Chipinge districts early this year is a litmus test to Zimbabwe’s planning and preparedness to disasters, a senior government official has said.
Addressing delegates at the National Adaptation Processes (NAP)Readiness Project Consultant Inception Meeting and Validation of the NAP Process Communication Strategy/ Fourth National Communication
Vulnerability and Adaptation Stakeholders meeting held at a hotel in Mutare on Tuesday, Washington Zhakata, a Director Climate Change Department at the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement said future climate projections required enhanced climate change mitigation actions.
“Projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
indicate a warmer future climate, which requires enhanced climate
change mitigation actions and enhancing adaptive capacities and
resilience of communities to climate change,” he said.
Zhakata, however, said efforts were currently underway nationally andinternationally to enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation actions.
“On mitigation actions, parties under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change have committed themselves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to nationally determined targets by 2030,” said Zhakata.
On adaptation actions, he said parties were called upon to enhance their ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate change resilience.
“Hence in order to inform the climate actions, we need to have a
complete understanding of the vulnerability of each given locality,”
he said.
Zhakata said the impacts of climate change in Zimbabwe cannot be overemphasized.
“The challenge for the country is how to adapt to extreme weather events such as cyclones, which cause severe flooding and droughts
which are projected to increase in frequency as a result of climate
change,” explained Zhakata.
The workshop was aimed at sharing information on the climate change
vulnerabilities within the different areas and sectors and the
appropriate adaptation measures to be implemented.
The information gathered at the workshop will be used for reporting as
obliged and in compliance with the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through the National Communications.
The workshop was jointly organized by the Fourth National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Readiness
Projects under the Climate Change Management Department of the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement.