Five of the countries in the Southern African Development Community have been selected to benefit from the People and Climate (NPC) investment to assist preserve the environmental integrity of the Zambezi Basin and train farmers on pilot basis on how to conserve nature as the crisis continues to take its toll on the continent.
The selection of Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, forming part of the Zambezi River Basin Region comes after they presented a joint vision to preserve the environmental integrity of the larger Zambezi basin.
The ultimate aim is to maintain valuable ecosystem services that support food security and economic development and build resilience to climate change.
A statement availed to the FRA and issued during the on-going 27th Session of Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) indicates that the five countries were selected as the first countries to participate in the NPC programme and join the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Fiji, and Kenya.
Under the programme, initiated by the NPC investment programme, it is envisaged that at least 20,000 farmers will be trained in conservation agriculture and 30,000 hectares of wetlands preserved.
According to CIF, at present, contributor-countries have pledged US$350 million to NPC to pilot and scale nature-based climate solutions in developing countries, including Zambia.
The NPC investments will further focus on promoting and protecting natural environments integral to climate action, sustainable agriculture and food supply, healthy forests, resilient coastal systems, and empowers Indigenous peoples and local communities.
The programme is intended to support the first group of participating countries, after they present investment plans, to meet some of their most pressing climate challenges.
The Zambezi River flows from Zambia to Mozambique and the Indian Ocean, crossing seven countries and providing one of the largest freshwater catchments in Africa and worldwide. About 47 million people live along the shores of the Zambezi watercourse, most of them dependent on rain fed agriculture.
With climate change, Zambezi basin farmers and communities are faced with emerging risks of drought, decreased crop yields, and damaging floods.
The inception of the NPC will help in protecting the Zambezi River’s headwaters, and forest areas
wetlands along the watercourse, and communities can adapt, safeguard livelihoods, and at the same time contribute to mitigate climate change.
And Zambia’s Minister of Green Economy and Environment Collins Nzovu is elated by the pronouncements. He notes that the financing was timely as it would help in upscaling the country’s vulnerable environment that has faced numerous loss and damage spurred by the climate change crisis.
“This comes at the right time as the Zambian Government has upscaled its resource mobilisation efforts to address the various challenges its people are facing due to climate change,” minister Nzovu is cited as stating.
“We have high ambitions as a country, and support from partners like CIF will be very important going forward. We look forward to quickly working together in mutually beneficial engagements.”
