News / National
Droughts, heat waves, floods to continue - experts
20 Aug 2012 at 03:03hrs | Views
THE country will continue to experience droughts, heat waves, floods and unpredictable weather patterns due to climate change, experts have said.
Zimbabwe has experienced successive droughts over the past few years which have led to crop failure, death of livestock and perennial water problems throughout the country. For instance, a serious water crisis has resulted in water shedding being introduced in Bulawayo.
Droughts have resulted in reduced inflows into the city's supply dams.
In an interview, a climate change expert from Environment Africa, Mr Collen Mutasa, said extreme weather patterns like dry conditions, heat waves and heavy precipitation would intensify and occur more frequently.
"Our average rainfall pattern is about 657mm but over the past few years, there has been less rainfall owing to climate change caused by the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is an indicator that there will be an increase in intensity and duration of extreme events like floods, heat waves and droughts.
"It is therefore time for all of us to come up with strategies to mitigate effects of climate change because the weather patterns will affect us in many ways," said Mr Mutasa.
He said ways of mitigating effects of climate change included the enhancement of carbon stocks through sustainable management of land use, land-use change and investing in renewable energy technologies.
Mr Barnabas Mawire, Environment Africa's country director for Zimbabwe, urged communities to adapt to climate change and look for ways to enable them to cope with its impact.
"It is obvious that we are all affected by climate change. We therefore need to adopt strategies to mitigate the effects.
"These include water harvesting, use of irrigation, cross-breeding of livestock and investing in small livestock like goats which have higher chances of surviving in drought-prone areas compared to cattle.
"Mitigation procedures will include the reduction of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour and sulphur. People should also improve livestock waste management and correctly use fertilizers," said Mr Mawire.
He said though the forecast scenario was worrying, there was a lot that people could do to preserve the environment.
A government report recently revealed that about a third of the land that was put under agriculture in Zimbabwe last year was a write-off as crops wilted due to moisture stress.
Bulawayo's five supply dams received insignificant inflows of two percent of their combined capacity in a season whose rainfall was predicted to be average to above average.
Climate change-related catastrophes being experienced in most countries provide examples of what the future might look like for most developing countries if the world fails to curtail its carbon emissions. Studies also indicate that by the year 2030 climate change may expose 90 million more people to malaria in Africa alone.
Zimbabwe has experienced successive droughts over the past few years which have led to crop failure, death of livestock and perennial water problems throughout the country. For instance, a serious water crisis has resulted in water shedding being introduced in Bulawayo.
Droughts have resulted in reduced inflows into the city's supply dams.
In an interview, a climate change expert from Environment Africa, Mr Collen Mutasa, said extreme weather patterns like dry conditions, heat waves and heavy precipitation would intensify and occur more frequently.
"Our average rainfall pattern is about 657mm but over the past few years, there has been less rainfall owing to climate change caused by the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is an indicator that there will be an increase in intensity and duration of extreme events like floods, heat waves and droughts.
"It is therefore time for all of us to come up with strategies to mitigate effects of climate change because the weather patterns will affect us in many ways," said Mr Mutasa.
He said ways of mitigating effects of climate change included the enhancement of carbon stocks through sustainable management of land use, land-use change and investing in renewable energy technologies.
Mr Barnabas Mawire, Environment Africa's country director for Zimbabwe, urged communities to adapt to climate change and look for ways to enable them to cope with its impact.
"It is obvious that we are all affected by climate change. We therefore need to adopt strategies to mitigate the effects.
"These include water harvesting, use of irrigation, cross-breeding of livestock and investing in small livestock like goats which have higher chances of surviving in drought-prone areas compared to cattle.
"Mitigation procedures will include the reduction of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour and sulphur. People should also improve livestock waste management and correctly use fertilizers," said Mr Mawire.
He said though the forecast scenario was worrying, there was a lot that people could do to preserve the environment.
A government report recently revealed that about a third of the land that was put under agriculture in Zimbabwe last year was a write-off as crops wilted due to moisture stress.
Bulawayo's five supply dams received insignificant inflows of two percent of their combined capacity in a season whose rainfall was predicted to be average to above average.
Climate change-related catastrophes being experienced in most countries provide examples of what the future might look like for most developing countries if the world fails to curtail its carbon emissions. Studies also indicate that by the year 2030 climate change may expose 90 million more people to malaria in Africa alone.
Source - TC
