Let’s plan for drought

The science is eating into every fibre of society fomenting untold hunger, poverty, chaos, disease and loss of life and property.
“Climate change is no longer an us and them issue, we all have a collective responsibility,” Dr Makarau told a congregation of over 160 climate fundis gathering for the First Climate Science Symposium of Zimbabwe hosted by the department in Harare recently.

“The future is unknown, but indications are bleak, particularly poverty eradication, unless decisive action is taken.”
Unfortunately, this desired level of action is still lacking. But drought mitigation or planning thereof, each year, is no child’s play.

This varies completely from responding to occasional climate-induced events, such as the 1982 or 1992 droughts, where faulty responses may be forgiven.
With droughts every year, national budgets should change, risk management improve and responses elevated to perfection.

Dr Makarau’s drought prediction is akin to suffering disasters yearly. Strong public policies targeted at improving food security at both household and national levels will alleviate catastrophes caused by such events as droughts.

Dr Makarau spoke against a body of growing evidence of the impacts of climate change in Zimbabwe.  Since the 1950s, day and night temperatures have risen and rainfall has decreased, particularly in the months of November, January, February and March, meaning a slow or erratic onset of the rainy season.

October and November rains are increasingly turning more violent and destructive while strong winds have intensified countrywide.
In April this year, a hailstorm caused                    US$30 000 worth of damage when it hit the Gonarezhou National Park, the worst since 1969.

Vegetation was severely damaged and birds killed. The southern parts of the country now experience frequent droughts or long dry spells during the growing season.
To mitigate against the droughts, Dr Makarau said “investments in irrigation and dam construction were now imperative and urgent”.

He said Zimbabwe needed a national policy on sustainable agriculture, which included targeted farming and reconstitution of land utilisation.
Improvements in water harvesting and conservation, research and development as well as weather monitoring and observing systems are very critical.

A study by Dr Emmanuel Mashonjowa of the University of Zimbabwe in the districts of Murehwa, Chiredzi, Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe, Tsholotsho and Goromonzi shows that most farmers believed climate change was real and affecting their livelihoods.

In all the districts surveyed, farmers stated that in the past decade, rainfall amounts and distribution had changed and droughts recurrent, Dr Mushonjowa said in his presentation at the symposium.

Temperatures have warmed by between 0,3 and 0,4 degrees Celsius since 1980.
“If this trend in rainfall variability and recurrent droughts continue in the near future, the study areas will experience more water shortages for agriculture, further threatening household food security,” he said.

Coping strategies in these areas may include the opening up and development of markets for small grains, combining scientific and indigenous knowledge and development of new seed varieties among other measures.

In Kariba, mean annual maximum temperatures have increased from 24 degrees Celsius in 1963 to around 25,5 degrees Celsius in 2007, according to research by some scientists from Chinhoyi University of Technology.

Precipitation has declined and indigenous fish such as the Kariba Bream are declining in numbers.
In Makonde district in Chinhoyi, annual rainfall had declined from a peak of 1 400mm in 1977 to around 1 000mm by year 2000, according to studies by Olga L Kupika etal (2013).

Several fish species had also disappeared in the Manyame and Mupfure rivers due to unsustainable fishing practices and pollution from mining while the river flow had been disrupted, causing serious water challenges.

The current river-based natural resources system was in bad shape, Kupika said.
Policy interventions in natural and water resources management, sustainable fishing practices, winter horticultural activities and apiculture projects among others are needed to improve adaptation.

Climate impact in Zimbabwe varies from district to district, province to province due to different geographies and households are affected differently.
However, the common impacts are felt in agriculture, the mainstay for over two-thirds of Zimbabwean families.

That may also explain why present mitigation and adaptation energies are mostly directed at smallholder farming, where resilience is a struggle. Obviously, several other areas such as health and energy require increased attention.

However the symposium established that due to the complexity of the climate system and the multiple stresses involved, it was difficult to attribute the impacts to climate change alone.

Not enough research had been done to quantify the contribution of climate change here, said MSD head external relations Mr Elliot Bungare.
“There seems to be information gaps between scientists, users, policymakers and the media.

“There is need for more dialogue between these sectors and dissemination of information must be in a form that is easily understood by users,” he said.
“There is need to magnify community adaptive capacities and resilience to the impacts of climate change and variability; and establish effective cross-sectoral early warming systems in order to minimise the impacts climate-related disasters.”
God is faithful.

Feedback: [email protected]