Zim a climate change hotspot: WB

RYAN CHIGOCHE

The World Bank (WB) has warned that Zimbabwe has become a ‘climate change hotspot’ resulting in significant agriculture  and economic losses.

WB senior agriculture specialist, Easther Chigumira said it was time to finance climate adaptation.

Chigumira  said Zimbabwe was losing US$126m in agriculture production risks as a result of climate change.

“Zimbabwe is a climate hotspot. According to risk assessment the country loses  approximately US$126m dollars due to production risks that represent almost 7.3% of  the agriculture GDP,’’ Chigumira said.

She added:’’…When we look at Africa as a whole our statistics  are showing us that the cost of putting a lot of resources and finances towards adaptation is about 0.9% of the African continent GDP in agriculture. But the cost of  inaction of not dealing with climate adaptation is 12% of your GDP. So what this means is we really need to be to actually finance adaptation.”

Zimbabwe has as a result of climate shocks experienced erratic rainfall patterns.

Zimbabwe was one of the countries who made pleas at Cop 26 last year, stating that coal consumption was still unavoidable due to the country’s climate.

Zimbabwe is heavily dependent on thermal power, which is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, necessitating a multi-stakeholder strategy to achieve pro-green processes.

The high cost of capital equipment required to build adequate hydro and solar power producing plants has been a major impediment to the country’s development and distribution of renewable energy.

More so due  to the effects of climate change the country has got limited and dwindling water for hydroelectricity generation hence the current state of heavy dependence on thermal power.

However, funding has been the main challenge when it comes to financing climate adaptation as currently the country solely relies on international climate finance and no domestic finance at all.

As a result the government has been calling for the private players to lead the initiative in addressing the issue of climate change mitigation and adaptation.