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Dr Misheck Sibanda

Elita Chikwati Agriculture Reporter
Climate change has brought extra-burden to the country’s economy, losses in the agriculture sector and destruction of infrastructure, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda said yesterday.

In a speech read on his behalf by the secretary in the Office of the President, Ambassador Stuart Comberbach, at the 20th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Report Back Meeting, Dr Sibanda said climate change had increased the frequency of extreme weather events.

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“The frequency of extreme weather events, with the increased frequency of floods, droughts and violent storms has resulted in massive financial losses in the agriculture sector. Infrastructure has been damaged, human and animal losses have been observed.

“The 2014 /2015 rainy season has been terminated prematurely and the crops have dried up at a time when they were maturing. Human induced global warming and subsequent climate change have continuously increased rainfall variability, thus altering water availability and reliability of water supplies,” he said.

Dr Sibanda said the challenges brought by climate change worsened the situation across all major climate sensitive sectors such as water, agriculture, livestock, energy, health and environment.

“At this rate, the potential impacts of climate change could be very severe. The losses faced by vulnerable groups are insurmountable, ranging from food insecurity, loss of livelihoods and hardship due to extreme weather events and environmental degradation, resulting in displacement, migration and other potentially devastating economic and social consequences,” he said.

He said there was need to increase adaptation programmes.

Dr Sibanda said additional adaptation measures would be required to reduce the adverse impacts of projected climate change and variability over the next three decades.

“The impacts of climate change cannot be over emphasised and its cross-cutting nature calls for urgent action, co-ordination and sharing of best practices to address these issues. The current and potential risks climate change poses to our socio-economic development and livelihoods call for innovativeness to enhance climate resilience.”