Zimbabwe Human Development Report 2017 - Climate Change & Human Development: Towards Building a Climate Resilient Nation

Source: Zimbabwe Human Development Report 2017 – Climate Change & Human Development: Towards Building a Climate Resilient Nation – Zimbabwe | ReliefWeb

Summary

The ZHDR 2017 has a special focus on issues of climate change, hence its theme is Climate Change and Human Development: Towards Building a Climate Resilient Nation.

Climate change is a significant threat to Zimbabweans and the Government of Zimbabwe regards climate as a top priority in its developmentefforts. A better understanding of the effects of climate change on human development is imperativeto combatting climate change and it is with this objective that the Government of Zimbabwe and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched the production of the Zimbabwe Human Development Report on Climate Change and Human Development: Towards Building a Climate Resilient Nation.

The ZHDR 2017 seeks to provide an in-depth analysis of challenges relating to climate change and human development in order to mainstream climate change into national planning and build the resilience of vulnerable people in the country to climate change using a human development lens.

Highlights

Climate change can have adverse impacts on the lives and wellbeing of Zimbabweans and can constrain or even reverse the progress in social and human development that Zimbabwe has previously accomplished Zimbabwe is experiencing hotter and fewer cold days as a result of climate change and variability There has been an overall decline of nearly 5 percent in rainfall across Zimbabwe during the past century, with temporal and spatial rainfall variation in mean rainfall received The impacts of climate change on Zimbabwe’s economy, which is primarily agro-based, with over 70 percent of the population living in rural areas and dependant on climate sensitive livelihoods such as arable farming and livestock, is large Appropriate agro-ecology and climate resilient agricultural practices, such as conservation agriculture, ensure improved production which does not undermine the environmental base and have the potential to improve in-situ water conservation Improved governance structures that are gender sensitive, strengthened formal and informal institutions, strengthened disease surveillance systems, and development of a Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change Plan are some of the strategies that could be used to address climate change challenges