– Zimbabwe was equally affected by climate change in 2022, the Joint Steering Committee of the 2022-2026 Zimbabwe UN SDGs for the year 2022. has revealed.
John Cassim
HARARE, ZIMBABWE – Climate Change coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic and conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine have created spin-off impacts on food and nutrition, health, education, the environment, peace, and security globally.
Zimbabwe was equally affected and this was revealed a few days ago during a Joint Steering Committee meeting of the 2022-2026 Zimbabwe UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (ZUNSDCF) for the year 2022.
The Steering Committee and stakeholders meeting brought together over 100 senior representatives from Government, Development Partners, Civil Society, Private Sector, Youth Groups, Women’s movement, Organizations of Persons with Disabilities, and the media.
Environment protection, climatic resilience, and natural resource management is one of the four strategic areas that was agreed with the Government of Zimbabwe.
The other three strategic areas are, People–centred equitable, human development and well-being, Economic Transformation, equitable and inclusion growth as well as Accountability, equitable and inclusive governance.
The ZUNSDCF, had an initial budget of US$ 700 million but only utilised US$524 million in various forms of projects and programmes in 2022.
The deliberate initiatives targeted populations often left furthest behind and these include persons with disabilities, migrants and refugees, children, youths, and rural farmers.
“Without the generous support of the donor community, the development results could not have been achieved and I would like to thank the donor community in Zimbabwe, who supported the first year of implementing the ZUNSDCF with an estimated US$ 544 million,” UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Edward Kallon said.
For the year 2023, the ZUNSDCF, has agreed to focus on creating an enabling environment that promote (i) human development, (ii) climate resilience, natural resources management and sustainable food systems, and (iii) economic transformation, equitable and inclusive growth.
Climate change remains a major challenge for Zimbabwe and the region with recent disasters such as Tropical Cyclone Freddy, that killed more 500 people and left a trail of destruction to the infrastructure.
More than 500 people are still missing and sources of water and food were also destroyed leaving citizens in the region especially Malawi and Mozambique, at the mercy of cholera outbreaks.
The Joint Steering Committee meeting of the 2022-2026 Zimbabwe UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (ZUNSDCF) has revealed it is closely monitoring effects of climate change and will be relying on the donor community to help cushion the shocks.