Angwa River, Zimbabwe
RIPARIAN ECOSYSTEM GOODS AND SERVICES AS SAFETY NETS DURING A CHANGING CLIMATE: EVIDENCE FROM A SEMI ARID SAVANNAH
Climate change presents a threat to rural communities living on the edge of protected areas. Persistent droughts coupled with low to almost nil agricultural production, these communities resort to available riparian communities to sustain their livelihoods. Riparian ecosystems act as safety nets for most communities living in water scarce regions. Climate change and variability is influencing the available water resources in river basins across the Southern African regions. Changes in climatic variables, especially precipitation and temperature, affect hydrologic processes, such as evapotranspiration, runoff generation and groundwater recharge. This also affects water demand patterns and biophysical processes in rivers, lakes and wetlands. Due to the diversity of the national and transboundary catchments throughout the Southern African regions, the effects of climate change and variability are not uniform and local impacts are poorly understood. The southern African region is already experiencing large rainfall variability on both intra and inter- annual timescales. Long-term drought and famine events, which have struck these two regions within the last 30 years, illustrate the impact of such variability on water resources. In this study, I document a success story on local initiatives and challenges towards building resilient communities.
The study purposely selected two drought prone districts, that is Chiredzi and Mwenezi in the South Eastern part of Zimbabwe. The South Eastern Lowveld is located in the driest part of the country. Rural communities here depend mostly on livestock production and other off farm jobs to sustain their livelihoods. To date, most studies have focused on livestock production systems, but off late, the livestock have succumbed to the prevailing drought. To date there is limited knowledge on how the local communities perceive and utilize the riparian zone to build resilience in the face of a changing climate.
