Eight countries sharing the Zambezi River Basin have agreed on priority actions for a planned $130 million regional programme aimed at strengthening food security, livelihoods and climate resilience across southern Africa.
Representatives from Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe met in Harare from Sept. 9-11 with the African Development Bank (AfDB), Zambezi Watercourse Commission (ZAMCOM), Climate Investment Funds, the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and other regional partners.
The workshop reviewed the programme’s technical design, financing allocations, implementation arrangements, geographic priorities and environmental and social safeguards ahead of an appraisal mission.
The programme is built around four areas (natural resources management, community climate resilience, institutional capacity and knowledge, and regional coordination).
Planned investments include landscape restoration, improved water management, climate-smart agriculture, stronger agricultural value chains and economic opportunities for women and young people.
The Zambezi Basin supports agriculture, fisheries, tourism and hydropower, including major facilities such as the Kariba and Cahora Bassa dams. But droughts and floods increasingly threaten food production, energy generation and livelihoods across the basin.
“Now the time has come to turn the resources mobilized into achievements on the ground for community resilience, food security, job creation for women and youth, and climate change mitigation throughout the Zambezi basin,” said Dr Laouali Garba, AfDB Manager for Agricultural Research, Production and Sustainability.
The programme is aligned with the Zambezi Watercourse Strategic Plan 2018-2040 and the Southern Africa Great Green Wall Initiative. Countries also discussed national investments that could contribute to shared basin-wide benefits.
ZAMCOM Executive Secretary Felix Ngamlagosi said national investments must remain connected to common regional outcomes.
“While the individual investments must respond to the priorities of each participating country, they must all contribute to common basin-wide results,” he said.
The workshop also highlighted the need to coordinate financing from the Climate Investment Funds, AfDB, African Development Fund and Global Environment Facility, while strengthening sustainable agriculture, nature-based solutions and land and water management.
Participants recommended that countries allocate at least 10% of their national budgets to priority areas under the basin programme, maintain community participation, track gender outcomes and strengthen land governance.
Cathrine Mutambirwa of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s Global Mechanism said closer coordination between land and water management was essential, noting that “drought is directly linked to water resources management.”
AfDB Zimbabwe Country Manager Eyerusalem Fasika said the countries shared responsibility for developing an investment programme capable of attracting financing.
“We have a shared responsibility to prepare a high-quality, bankable investment program,” she said.
The next stage will focus on appraisal and further development of the programme, with the aim of translating regional climate priorities into investable projects that strengthen resilience, food security and livelihoods across the Zambezi Basin.
