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Francis Gakanje
GOVERNMENT has approved Zimbabwe’s National Climate Change Adaptation Plan 2024-2030, as the country moves to mainstream climate agenda into all key sectors and pillars of the economy.
The National Climate Change Adaptation Plan seeks to address the unprecedented impacts of climate change.
This comes after President Mnangagwa earlier this year declared a State of National Disaster in recognition of the devastating impact of drought caused by El Nino, a phenomenon whose impact is believed to be worsening due to climate change.
Climate change is already causing more frequent and intense droughts, storms, heat waves, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming oceans, directly harming animals, destroying the places they live, and wreaking havoc on people’s livelihoods and communities
Zimbabwe’s National Climate Adaptation Plan (NCCAP) will enhance the country’s capacity and effectiveness to plan, integrate, implement, monitor and evaluate adaptation plans and programmes for climate change and will be the anchor document for the development of sectoral plans.
The country, like many nations, is bearing the brunt of climate variability and change, hence the need for a coordinated approach to address related vulnerabilities and risks caused by these extreme weather events.
Extreme weather patterns such as droughts, floods, prolonged midseason dry spells, heat waves, violent storms and tropical cyclone activities occasioned by climate change pose serious risks to food security and negatively impact socio-economic development.
“The National Climate Change Adaptation Plan seeks to address these unprecedented impacts of climate change. It provides guidance on the steps to be followed in mainstreaming climate change in development planning for the period 2024-2030, in order to build a climate-resilient and low carbon economy,” said Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Daniel Garwe, who is also the chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Environment, Disaster Prevention and Management.
He said climate-related hazards can disrupt agricultural production, damage infrastructure and destabilise local economies, making it increasingly difficult for communities to ensure reliable access to food and maintain sustainable livelihoods. This is done by providing a framework for mainstreaming climate change considerations into development planning from 2024 to 2030 to foster a more climate-resilient and low-carbon economy.
NCCAP is guided by a range of existing Government policy frameworks, including Vision 2030, the National Development Strategy 1 (2021-2025), the National Climate Policy (2017), the Zimbabwe National Climate Change Response Strategy (2014), the Zimbabwe Climate Gender Action Plan (2021), the Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee reports and the National Communication Reports to the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change.
According to Minister Garwe these complementary policies and strategies inform the plan’s approach to addressing the impacts of climate change.
Further, the NCCAP also incorporates incentive mechanisms, such as duty waivers, to encourage the localised production of electric vehicles as part of the transition towards a low-carbon economy.
“The incentives and duty waiver would also apply to local production and or importation of equipment and gadgets used in mitigating the effects of climate change,” said Minister Garwe.
Online Reporter