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Mr Zhakata

Melissa Makoto and Audrey Rundofa
Climate change-related drought and floods are expected to fuel rural to urban migration, creating a recipe for major problems in urban areas, a Government official has said.

Speaking during a National Adaptation Plan Development Process Consultative (NAP) workshop in Harare last week, director in the Ministry of Water Resources Development and Climate Mr Washington Zhakata said there was need to prepare and pro-actively adjust to climate change.

“As local government, as city fathers, how can we drive the climate change adaptation agenda forward in the urban sector to reduce vulnerability to the vagaries of climate change?” he said.

“There is need to probe on climate change issues and vulnerabilities and collectively we can drive the climate change (agenda), and together we can collectively work to increase cities’ resilience to climate change impacts through developing resilient buildings, transport systems, transformational modern energy and infrastruc- ture.”

Local Government, Public Works and National Housing permanent secretary Engineer George Mlilo said climate change was a matter that affected everyone.

“We in Zimbabwe have already seen the impact of climate change: soaring temperatures, with new record highs being set every year; heavy rainfall, resulting in the current drainage systems being unable to cope with water volumes, leading to flooding; low rainfall, resulting in hunger and malnutrition; strange weather phenomena like hailstorms that destroy houses and winds that blow off roofs,” said Eng Mlilo.

“We would want to tackle this issue to ensure climate change adaptation issues and disaster risk reduction.”

Mr Mlilo said the starting point in managing risks and building long-term resilience was for cities, municipalities, towns and local boards to understand their exposure and sensitivity to the impact of climate change, and, thereafter, develop responsive policies and make the necessary investments to address the vulnerabilities.

The NAP process was established in 2010 as part of the Cancun Adaptation Framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to complement the existing short-term National Adaptation Programmes of Action.