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The experts say this is largely due to climate change caused by human activity.
However, next week climate experts from Southern Africa will converge for a regional climate outlook forum in Harare.
The Southern African Regional Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF)-16, hosted by the Metereological Services Department will culminate in the release of the forcast rainfall pattern for the 2012-2013.
The meeting comes at a time when Zimbabwe has experienced successive droughts over the past years, which have led to crop failure, death of livestock and perennial water problems.
Speaking during a one-day climate change awareness workshop for journalists in Bulawayo on Friday, a climate change expert from Environment Africa, Mr Collen Mutasa, said extreme climatic conditions such as drought, heat waves and heavy precipitation will become intensified and occur more frequently.
“Our average rainfall pattern is about 657 milimetres, but over the past few years, there has been less rainfall owing to climate change caused by the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
“This is an indicator that there will be an increase in intensity and duration of extreme events like floods, heat waves and droughts.
“It is therefore time for all of us to come up with strategies to mitigate climate change because the weather patterns will affect us in many ways,” said Mr Mutasa.
He said ways of mitigating climate change included the enhancement of carbon stocks through sustainable management of land use and forestry and in investing in renewable energy technologies.
Speaking at the same occasion, Environment Africa country director for Zimbabwe Mr Barnabas Mawire urged communities to adapt to climate change and look for ways that would enable them to cope with its impact.
“It is obvious that we are all affected by climate change, we therefore need to adopt two strategies, adaptation and mitigation.
“Adaptation methods, especially for farmers, include rain water harvesting, use of irrigation, crossbreeding of livestock and investing in smaller livestock like goats, which have higher chances of surviving in drought-prone areas compared to cattle.
“Mitigation procedures will include the reduction of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour and sulphur,” said Mr Mawire.
He said though the present forecast scenario was worrying, there was a lot people could do to preserve the environment.
Meanwhile, Mateorological Services Department acting deputy director Mr Terence Darlington Mushore said SARCOF-16 will run from 13 to 21 August.
“The climate experts meeting will run from 13 to 21 August and is only open to scientists mainly from the national meteorological services of Southern African countries.
“During the period, experts will make use of indicators of seasonal rainfall to come up with a regional forecast for the 2012/13 rainfall season,” said Mr Mushore.
He said the regional climate outlook forum was divided into two main activities, which are the Regional Climate Experts Meeting and the SARCOF-16 conference.
“The activities will be coordinated by the Sadc Climate Services Centre while the Meteorological Services Department of Zimbabwe will only host the proceedings.
“The SARCOF-16 conference will then follow and this is when the regional forecast for the seasonal rainfall will be revealed to the public,” said Mr Mushore.
He said the SARCOF-16 conference will be open to representatives of national meteorological services, government ministries, media, disaster managers, universities, research institutes and the civil society.
“Since the SARCOF-16 will result in a forecast for the entire region, the national meteorological services will downscale the regional forecast to their local conditions when they are back in their own countries.
“In Zimbabwe, SARCOF will be followed by a National Climate Outlook Forum (NACOF) where local scientists from the Meteorological Services Department will issue a seasonal rainfall forecast for the country,” said Mr Mushore.
He said this is most likely to be done between 3 and 7 September.
The poor rainfall pattern for the 2011-2012 season left most provinces without pastures.
In most parts of the country crops were written off and now dams are drying up.
This has resulted in local authorities such as Bulawayo City Council introducing water shedding in a bid conserve water.
Online Reporter