Building the Resilience of
Landlocked Developing Countries to
the Impacts of Climate Change,
Desertification, Land Degradation
and Drought
Zimbabwe
Location
Background
• Zimbabwe is a landlocked country covering
390 757km2
• It is divided into 5 agro-ecological regions
based on rainfall regimes
• Regions 4 and 5 are characterised with low
rainfall regimes.
• Up to 60% of the country is semi-arid marginal
agricultural lands that suffer from drought
occurrence and land degradation
Challenges faced by being landlocked
such as Zimbabwe
• Limited access to marine resources necessary
for nutritional provision and livelihoods
options leading to high dependency on the
terrestrial natural capital.
• Trading and investment potential is
compromised and costs increased because of
the lack of ports eg a Steel company is
mooting an idea of pumping molten steel
through a pipeline to the port for export.
Challenges cntd..
• Dependence on passage through other countries
for global markets,
• Roads are quickly damaged due to heavy trucks
as they transport bulky products or excess loads
on the roads.
• High costs of road maintenance compromise the
competiveness of Zimbabwe markets
• Compromised viability of the agricultural sector
due to high import and export costs for inputs
and outputs respectively.
Challenges cntd.
• Transport systems are susceptible and
sensitive to political and economic
manipulation
• Vulnerability to encroachment of desert like
conditions, land degradation and drought.
• This is particularly true of the South Eastern
regions of Zimbabwe which fall in region 4 and
5.
Challenges cntd
• Semi- arid areas are gradually encroaching the
previously humid zone turning them to semiarid transition zones due to climate change.
• Zimbabwe has suffered from the effects of
climate change
• There are more frequent and severe droughts
since the 1980s than before.
• A new phenomena that was previously very
rare is the occurrence of serious droughts
Successes in combating DLDD
• Investment in alternative technology to
harness those natural resources that are
abundant
• solar energy though cost is preventing wider
use
• Irrigation and water harvesting
• Empowerment of communities to solve own
challenges
Recommendations
• Flagship transboundary projects are necessary
to reverse DLDD
• Signature programmes for landlocked
countries
• Funding mechanisms for projects
• Investment in good transport infrastructure
• Access to services by affected communities as
well as opening country to ports
I THANK YOU