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Nesia Mhaka Herald Reporter
Zimbabwe is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 33 percent per capita by the year 2030, Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement director of the Climate Change Management Department Mr Washington Zhakata has said.

Speaking at the Environmental Forum summit in Harare recently, Mr Zhakata said Zimbabwe was crafting a Low Emissions Development Strategy to guide different sectors towards low carbon growth (green growth) in line with the Paris Agreement.

“The Government, in collaboration with the Business Council for Sustainable Development, carried out water and energy efficiency audits to encourage movement towards sustainable use of resources,” he said.

“Through its nationally determined contributions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2015, Zimbabwe committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 33 percent per capita by the year 2030.

“Climate change in Zimbabwe is attributed to the increased levels of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the key projects to reduce emissions include, increasing hydroelectric generation, energy efficiency measure and electrifying rail.”

Mr Zhakata said climate change was any significant long-term change in the expected patterns of average weather of an area over a significant period of time.

He said environment transformations (climatic changes) caused abnormal variations to the climate and the effects may lead to disasters.

“Climate change manifests itself through increased weather extremes such as abnormal wet spells, increased aridity, greater inter-seasonal variability, heat waves, and increasingly violent hailstorms,” said Mr Zhakata.

“In Zimbabwe, these climate-related disasters include tropical cyclones Eline, Japhet, Dineo, Idai which resulted in floods and loss of life, increased water-borne diseases, destruction of social and economic infrastructure, droughts and prolonged intra-seasonal dry spells, resulting in increased malnutrition, loss of incomes and livelihoods, reduced hydroelectric power generation and animal deaths.”

Mr Zhakata urged the public to avert climate-related disasters through ecosystem conservation.

He said the atmospherically changes in the forthcoming years will result in the upsurge of waterless environments.