Zimbabwe: A Brief Introduction 

Combined with years of political and economic instability and an economy heavily reliant on rain-fed agriculture, Zimbabwe is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Zimbabwe’s population faces intense poverty, with over 38 percent of the population below the poverty line – limiting access to social and financial capital that could aid in climate adaptation and resilience.1 The country’s climate zones vary from humid and subtropical in the north and eastern regions to nearly semi-arid in the high elevation plateau of the south.2 Further, Zimbabwe’s landlocked position in southern Africa means that it is not only highly vulnerable to climate impacts within its borders but also to the spill-over effects of the impacts of climate change in neighboring countries and internationally like refugee influxes from climate-vulnerable countries and transboundary water dependency.3  

Mapping Major Climate Events & Climate-Induced Displacement

As the climate crisis intensifies, Zimbabwe is experiencing an increased intensity of severe weather events, specifically droughts, prolonged dry spells, floods, and extreme storms.4 Major climate events have disrupted the agricultural economy, social infrastructure, and communities. In 2019 Cyclone Idai hit Zimbabwe, the strong winds and rains internally displaced 52,000 people5 and killed 340.6 The storm primarily affected communities in rural areas with poor road infrastructure and housing, such as  Chimanimani and Chipinge,  destroying their homes, crops, and livestock, leaving them with little choice but to seek help in displacement camps.7  

Moreover, drought is one of the most prevalent climate-related hazards in the country. In the last decade, dry spells have increased in frequency, intensity, and impact due to climate change and have directly impacted farmers.8 In response to these climate impacts, rural families often experience seasonal and forced migration in search of work opportunities.3 These climate factors affect Zimbabwe’s food security, health, and infrastructure and will increase sustained internal and external displacement, pushing people to leave their homes and land as climate refugees.

Mapping the Costs of the Climate Crisis

As droughts and floods become more frequent and intense, rural communities who make up 67 percent9 of the population and depend on rain-fed farming face devastating crop losses estimated at $126 million annually.3 These climate factors threaten crop harvests, livelihoods, and food security – in 2020, more than 7.7 million people, nearly half of the population, faced food insecurity at the peak of the lean season, a term used to describe the most food insecure period during the farming cycle.10 In addition to affecting food insecurity, flooding and drought events threaten the health of Zimbabweans by increasing the spread of water-borne diseases such as cholera.3 To respond to these convergent crises, Zimbabwe requires domestic and international financial support to implement mitigation and adaptation measures. To recover from this catastrophic disaster that left over $622 million in damages, Zimbabwe requested support from the international community but received an inadequate response – slowing the pace of rebuilding efforts.11

Mapping Resilience and Mitigation Pathways

Despite developing a policy and institutional framework to support climate governance, particularly through the National Climate Policy,12 the National Climate Change Response Strategy13 and the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), among others, Zimbabwe’s capacity to implement and enforce climate policies faces challenges. These barriers include the institutional and technical capacity within the government, inaccessible climate information to inform decision-making, limited financial resources, and ineffective monitoring of climate adaptation planning.4 In Zimbabwe’s 2021 update to its NDC, the government requested $4.8 billion for mitigation measures focused on the energy, industrial, agriculture, and waste sectors, with a forthcoming adaptation cost request in the National Action Plan.14 To address climate adaptation in the interim, Zimbabwe is focusing on priority adaptation measures, including developing and implementing climate-smart agriculture, ensuring climate-resilient infrastructure, and enhancing climate-related disaster risk systems.14  

Necessary Changes

As evidenced by the inadequate international response to Cyclone Idai, developing countries cannot bear the costs for loss and damage. The international community must step up to finance justice-oriented loss and damages as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation policies. To strengthen its forthcoming climate adaptation plan, the Zimbabwean government should align climate adaptation financing and implementation strategies that support local communities. This financing framework should focus on blended funding, gathering private sector financing domestically and internationally to support national climate adaptation goals.15 Concurrently, with technical support from the international community, the government must equip Zimbabwean communities with climate knowledge on early warning and response systems to mitigate climate impacts.16 This technical training is vital given the unpredictability of climate patterns which can undermine the effectiveness of indigenous knowledge systems in climate adaptation efforts.