GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | KOMMUNIKATION GLOBAL - 01 | 2009
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | KOMMUNIKATION GLOBAL - 01 | 2009
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | KOMMUNIKATION GLOBAL - 01 | 2009
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Climate Change Threatens Livelihoods<br />
By Pilirani Semu-Banda in Lilongwe<br />
Climate change will affect the Zambezi River basin more severely than any other river<br />
system in the world, according to Kenneth Msibi, Water Policy and Strategy Expert for<br />
the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Increased floods, drought and<br />
increased levels of disease threaten lives and livelihoods all along the river’s length.<br />
"Frequent floods and intense droughts are becoming more frequent occurrences in<br />
our region. We need to use our existing water resources as a catalyst for development<br />
so that we don’t get overwhelmed by the effects of climate change," said Msibi.<br />
Coordinator for the Climate Change and Adaptation in Africa project, Miriam<br />
Kalanda-Sabola, told IPS that farming communities in Malawi and Tanzania, for instance,<br />
have in the past 30 years experienced considerable negative climate change<br />
effects in both semi-arid and high rainfall areas.<br />
Throughout the basin, agriculture is mostly rain-fed, and the people of these states<br />
are facing declining agricultural productivity which is being linked to worsening poverty<br />
and increasing food insecurity.<br />
The semi-arid areas of Tanzania have seen declining crop yields, poor livestock production,<br />
and increasing domestic animal diseases. Many communities have abandoned<br />
the production of traditional crops. But farmers in areas of high rainfall are also in difficulty.<br />
"The high rainfall areas in Tanzania are facing declining soil fertility, stunted crop<br />
growth, destruction of mature crops in the field and stored ones," said Kalanda-<br />
Sabola.<br />
In Malawi's semi-arid areas, communities are seeing increasing periods of hunger and<br />
loss of property due to floods while droughts have reduced grazing for livestock due to<br />
droughts.<br />
Meanwhile, the high rainfall areas are experiencing soil erosion and frequent landslides,<br />
increasing incidence of malaria and loss of crops and animals due to floods.<br />
"The most vulnerable victims facing the effects of the changes in climatic conditions<br />
are the poor, women, children, elders, people with less education, sick people and<br />
communities in areas with poor infrastructures and less social network," said Kalanda-<br />
Sabola.<br />
New and increased levels of disease are also having a negative impact on agriculture,<br />
according to Professor Moses John Chimbari, Deputy Director at Harry Oppenheimer<br />
Okavango Research Centre (HOORC), a research institute at the University of<br />
Botswana.<br />
He says droughts and floods due to rising temperatures are creating a conducive environment<br />
for diseases such as malaria and meningitis. He said there are already many<br />
more episodes of malaria in the riparian states because of the favourable atmosphere<br />
for mosquitoes that has already been created due to the climatic changes.<br />
"This has a great impact on agriculture and the economies since people are sick most<br />
of the times and they are not being very productive," said Chimbari.<br />
Little capacity to adapt<br />
He said most countries in the Zambezi riparian states have little capacity to adapt to<br />
high incidence of diseases and that this makes many people even more vulnerable.<br />
He worried that HIV/AIDS is also adding to these stresses.<br />
"We need to reverse the trends that increase vulnerability to climate change through<br />
food security. We will actually be the most vulnerable region if we continue to be<br />
where we are now," said Chimbari.<br />
The researcher called for states to improve their health facilities and be able to<br />
cope with the health hazards being posed by climate change.<br />
The adaptation strategies that are being employed in Malawi include switching to<br />
drought-resistant crops like cassava, increased irrigation farming, growing earlymaturing<br />
hybrid varieties of crops and the use of organic manure.<br />
In Tanzania, farmers are also turning to drought resistant crops such as sunflowers,<br />
and employing small scale irrigation, improved social networks such as cooperatives<br />
and the use of improved seed varieties.<br />
Kalanda-Sabola approves of all these strategies and further calls for more livestock<br />
farming -- especially in the high rainfall sites -- and timely access to vital and simple<br />
information on climate change and variability. She says farmers in the region are being<br />
hampered by resource limitations including lack of enough crop land, lack of accessibility<br />
to loans and farm inputs. She underlines the need for a strengthening of capacity<br />
for implementation among communities. "Most farmers are failing to meet transaction<br />
costs necessary to acquire adaptation measures as they also have no or little access to<br />
external markets," she said. IPS | <strong>GLOBAL</strong> <strong>PERSPECTIVES</strong> �<br />
COUNTDOWN TO COPENHAGEN<br />
<strong>GLOBAL</strong> <strong>PERSPECTIVES</strong> | JANUARY <strong>2009</strong> 29