“The dam was the cornerstone of our livelihood. People and livestock drank from the it and it supplied abundant water for our crops,” said Nyamande. But in 2000, Cyclone Eline struck the Chimanimani area, destroying the dam, the crops and the infrastructure. Ever since then, the area has been plagued by erratic weather patterns and successive droughts.
On a recent visit to some of the villages in Mhandarume, The Zimbabwean noted that the maize crops were a write-off, having withered as a result of inadequate rainfall. Dinhe Dam, destroyed by the cyclone, no longer supplies much-needed water, and many of the rivers and streams in the area have dried up. Villagers and their animals are now forced to source water from other villages, some 10 kilometres away.
Perennial drought
Headman Batsirai Chieza, 58, said the region now suffered perennial droughts. “Since 2002, we have been hit by one drought after the other. As you can see here, our crops are already dying as a result of persistent dry conditions,” said Chieza. “Even the small grains that we used to grow here no longer adapt to the climate.” To add to their woes, some of their livestock have died after drinking water from the cattle dip, which contains chemicals.
Another villager, Nokutula Muisa, attributed the successive droughts to climate change. He said they received only 380 millilitres of rainfall out of the expected 450 millilitres in the short period between December and January. “We no longer have off-season rainfall (winter, August and September rains) Even if we receive rain now, it won’t sustain our crops. It would be too little, too late,” he said.
The villagers have pleaded with government and developmental partners to assist by drilling boreholes in their villages and rebuilding the defunct dam.
No boreholes
“We appeal to government and development partners to intervene and assist in resolving the water crisis here. We want the dam to be rebuilt. We also want boreholes drilled in several villages,” said Chieza. He said there were no boreholes in any of the 12 villages in Mhandarume and at least four boreholes per village are needed to ensure an adequate water supply for the people and their animals.
One village elder, Brano Tikiti, 63, said the shortage of rainfall had led to underdevelopment. She lamented that youths in the area have been forced to engage in illegal means of making money in order to survive. “Some cut down trees and sell firewood, others sell sand, which causes environmental degradation,” she said.
Aware of the crisis, development partners have recently stepped in to assist the affected villages through a resource fund to support climate change initiative. Chimanimani district is one of the beneficiaries of this programme together with Buhera and Chiredzi.
Special fund
The UNDP special climate change fund has mobilised $4 million to support climate change initiatives for small scale farmers in the three districts. The regional technical advisor, Benjamin Larroquette, said the financial resources would be provided by the Global Environmental Fund – an arm of UNDP.
“The $4 million dollars required for this project will come from the GEF special climate change fund. It will be used in the identified communities to improve quality of villagers’ lives, by developing irrigation schemes, resulting in resilience to climate change,” said Larroquette. “This is a four-year development plan, and approximately $1 million will be released per year to fund the project.” Construction and rehabilitation of dams, irrigation schemes, rain water harvesting and borehole drilling are some of the initiatives expected to be rolled out.
In a bid to combat the erratic weather patterns wreaking havoc in the country, government is currently crafting a Climate Policy framework expected to be issued in August 2015. Climate change, which is a global issue, frequently leads to declining water resources, reduced agricultural productivity, turbulent weather and climatic disasters.
Research
Research conducted by the Ministry of Environment indicates that Zimbabwe is among the most affected African states. Statistics show that the country has been experiencing more hot days and fewer cold days than in the recent past and this phenomenon is believed to be attributable to climate change patterns.
The country’s annual mean surface temperature has warmed by about 0.4 degrees C from 1900 to 2000. The period from 1980 to date has been the warmest since Zimbabwe started recording temperatures. The timing and amount of rainfall received are becoming increasingly erratic, with the last 34 years evidencing a trend towards either unusually heavy rainfall or very sparse rainfall and drought occurring back-to-back in the same season. The frequency and length of dry spells during the rainy seasons have increased and the number of days on which rain occurs has declined.
This trend has adversely impacted on Zimbabwe’s economy, which is primarily agriculture-based with over 70 per cent of the population living in rural areas and dependent on climate-sensitive livelihoods such as arable farming and livestock. It is against this backdrop that the government is stepping up its commitment to combat climate change and its effects.
$10 billion
An official from the climate change department in the Ministry of Environment, Elisha Moyo, said government was committed to issuing a Climate Policy as a response to climatic changes in August. He said initial consultations had been made and more were expected to follow at provincial and district level, making the policy as inclusive as possible.
“We will target vulnerable groups – women, children and the physically challenged. The Climate Policy will, when developed, refine the National Climate Change Response Strategy. The focus will be on research and modelling; mitigation and green growth; vulnerability and adaptation; enablers – technology transfer, and institutional and governance work,” said Moyo.
Close to $10 billion is needed to finance the Climate Policy’s proposals, and the department is in the process of engaging partners for funding purposes.
Post published in: News