Zimbabwe Receives Weather Forecasting Equipment
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has donated meteorological and hydrological equipment worth US$360 000 under the Green Climate Fund to Zimbabwe.
The project seeks to mitigate drought and other climate change-induced disasters.
The equipment, which comprises 26 automated weather stations,10 automatic rainfall stations and 10 data loggers for hydrological stations, was donated to the ministries of Agriculture and Tourism and Environment.
Speaking on behalf of Lands and Agriculture minister, Anxious Masuka at the handover ceremony on Friday, the strategic planning and business chief director in the ministry, Clemence Taderera Bwenje said:
Due to climate change, the 2021/22 harvest was not as we all expected. The season started late. My theory is that we did not fall below the 2019/20 production level as a result of the resilience that was achieved through Pfumvudza.
As we move into the 2022/23 season, our theme as the ministry is Bounce Back Better and indeed with such a partnership with the Green Climate Fund, we will bounce back better.
UNDP resident representative, Eliman Jagne, said Zimbabwe has limited capacity in interpreting climate information due to a lack of forecasting software. Added Jagne:
Given this background, the need for additional weather, hydrological stations, and other monitoring systems remains pertinent.
The UNDP Green Climate Fund and Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund (ZRBF) projects thus seek to complement various government needs and incentives in making the ministry a conducive place to achieve the climate adaptation milestones…
The ZRBF is a long-term development initiative aimed at increasing the capacity of communities in the face of natural disasters.
More: NewsDay
