DAN Church Aid has pledged to bankroll Zimbabwe’s climate adaptive programmes to mitigate the impact of drought and biodiversity losses through various initiatives.
The DanChurchAid interventions will be funded by UNDP’s Global Environmental Fund and the Swedish Development Agency.
The programmes will be implemented in the Middle and Lower Zambezi Valley as part of a multi-sectoral programme benefiting local smallholder farmers and communities.
DanChurchAid spokesperson Patience Ukama told NewsDay that the project will reduce biodiversity losses, human-wildlife conflict and ensure that communities have an opportunity to be part and parcel of agreements in tourism and other sectors where they are entitled to an economic dividend.
“The programme will also result in truly sustainable food systems that serve multiple purposes such as nutrition, livelihoods, and environmental protection,” Ukama said.
“Climate adaptive agriculture at its simplest seeks to manage landscapes — cropland, livestock, forests, and fisheries — in an integrated approach to address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change.”
She said the programme would benefit communities in Zimbabwe’s five distinct ecological regions to ensure abundant habitats are provided for diverse flora and fauna.
DanChurchAid secretary-general Birgitte Qvist-Sorensen added: “We are not only facing a climate crisis, but we are also facing an unfair crisis. Those with historic responsibility for global warming should turn their past into action. Our premise is that an effective response is one where affected communities participate fully in the process and are empowered through capacity strengthening, skills and knowledge transfer to engage with the wider social, economic and political cluster on climate mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity initiatives.”
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