adminJeffrey Gogo Climate Story
ZIMBABWE last week announced the creation of a new Government ministry specifically responsible for the Environment, Water and Climate.
This is a significant policy shift towards addressing the challenge of climate change, a destructive man-made phenomenon causing worldwide suffering.
Whereas climate change was hitherto housed as an office within the former Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management, this is the first time that the term “Climate” has been incorporated into the broader frame of the naming of line ministries.
In many ways, this aides Zimbabwe’s climate change agenda. But more importantly, putting “Climate” on top ensures equity in resource allocation, which has been the suffocating weak link in climate responses.
It means climate issues will now be taken more seriously at the national level, receiving budgetary allocations and mainstreamed into national developmental processes, much in the same way like water and other broad environmental matters.
Dr Kenneth Odero, a climate expert with Climate XL Africa in Harare said the creation of a dedicated climate ministry depicted Zimbabwe’s new strategic thinking in prioritising climate issues.
“Names confer meaning and in this case I think it is very significant that the word “climate” appears in the name of a ministry,” Dr Odero explained in an interview last week.
“This will send out the right signals. It certainly speaks to the priority the Government is giving to the climate agenda and one would hope that the appointing authority has given specific directions to the new minister on what he expects under this portfolio.”
Zimbabwe is currently developing a National Climate Change Strategy and an Action Plan, critical mitigatory and adaptive frameworks, which will give birth to the Climate Change Policy.
A lot of catching up still needs to be done though, such as developing a national appropriate mitigation action (NAMA), national REDD+ strategy, Dr Odero said, but with the new ministry “it is to be expected that there will be greater vigour and urgency in tackling the climate crisis.”
Mr Shepherd Zvigadza, director at ZERO Regional Environmental Organisation, a local NGO, said pulling into a single ministry three related sectors, the Environment, Water and Climate, creates a convenient system that facilitates co-ordinated policy implementation and necessary amalgamation on research and development.
He said climate change now “had a home” and it was clear whom to consult on similar matters.
“This scenario would ensure policy harmonisation. Funding will be easy to raise using the water portfolio or using both portfolios to support the other, resulting in intergrated management,” said Mr Zvigadza.
Successes or failures will be measured on the country’s devotion to implementing its climate blue prints, with immediate deliberate efforts of building and strengthening community resilience, those most affected by climate impacts.
“The recent onset of major weather events sets the context for instituting urgent measures to increase the resilience of both communities and assets against climate risks, as well as measures to minimise loss and damage from floods, droughts, and related impacts of climatic variability and change.
“This calls for exhilaration of green investment in soft and hard infrastructure,” added Dr Odero.
Climate change may take on a human rights approach, as its multiple impacts tend to affect the basics necessary for human survival such as water, food production and shelter.
And Zimbabwe has experienced numerous of these severe disturbances in the last three decades — floods and droughts more frequently — causing manifold destruction to public infrastructure, loss of human and animal life, and displacements.
While the country responded, its responses were characteristically weak and slow making them less effective.
Among many things, the slow response was mainly blamed on lack of adequate preparedness to climate disasters, including insufficient investments into early warning and disaster risk management systems.
Co-ordination between line ministries on climate change issues has generally been poor, resulting in delayed fragmented responses in disaster situations.
Across Africa, climate change only became a common continental goal as late as 2007 with the adoption of a declaration on climate change yet, its dangerous impacts have spread causing untold suffering across the continent.
In Zimbabwe, significant warming has been witnessed since the early 1900s, with temperatures rising on the average 0,6 degrees Celsius and average annual rainfall declining five percent overall.
God is faithful.
Online Reporter