Neil Ever Osborne / WWF-US

Zambia

Communities reduce meal quantities and shift to a vegetable-only diet due to climate change.

Location: The Lower Kafue Basin
Threat: More floods and, over a longer time-period, droughts
Causes: Climate change. Annual temperature and rainfall are projected to increase: 3.6 °C and 3 % by 2100

The Lower Kafue Basin is changing

The Kafue Flats are located on the lower section of the Kafue River comprise a low lying floodplain system. It is 6,500km², with a shallow gradient of an area of 20m, which results in diverse habitats. It hosts a Ramsar site and two National Parks: Blue Lagoon and Lochinvar, and a large Game Management Area. The region is changing and will not cope with the double forces on rapid population and climate change, causing droughts and floods.

What is the situation?

Almost 1,000,000 people reside in the Kafue Flats area with many relying on the wetlands for their livelihood. The Kafue River plays a crucial role providing irrigation and water supply to the capital city of Lusaka. It also accounts for a significant portion of the country's hydropower production. The main socio-economic activities in the region are fishing and agriculture. The area has experienced increasing temperatures (1.3 °C/annual) and decreased rainfall (1.9 mm/month), leading to shorter and more unpredictable rainy seasons. Droughts and floods have become more frequent, affecting a larger area.

How can VCA support local partners?

The aim is to develop locally relevant and inclusive climate solutions that deliver tangible benefits to both people and nature in the Kafue flats. Civil society, particularly marginalized groups, lacks representation and involvement in decision-making processes related to local climate agendas. The Voices for Just Climate Action (VCA) network aims to address these challenges by expanding civic space, identifying regional linkages with other movements and developing local solutions for climate change adaptation.

The VCA network consists of a diversity of local organizations in Zambia.

NGO partner CUTS Lusaka, Consumer Unity and Trust Society

“VCA Zambia supports us in empowering Zambia's most vulnerable to lead climate-smart action.”

Updates

Jasper Doest / WWF

Nature-based Solutions in the Kafue Flats, Zambia

Communities across the world are experiencing the increasingly devastating impacts of climate change and weather-related disasters, with developing countries bearing the brunt of the resulting social, economic, and environmental consequences. Without urgent action to combat climate change and build climate resilience, these disasters are expected to worsen. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are one course of action to address these issues, but they are still far from reaching their full potential.

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A Voice for Just Climate Action: Elina Kasongo Mwelwa and Judith Mwanza

Elina Kasongo Mwelwa and Judith Mwanza are two women who participate in the project of ZYCALA (Zambia Youth for Conservation, Agriculture, and Livelihood Action). The aim is to promote and support regenerative agriculture and sustainable organic practices.

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Gareth Bentley / WWF-US

Overview local partners Zambia

In Zambia, VCA has 16 local partners spread across ten districts in Lusaka and Southern Province namely, Chikankanta, Mazabuka, Itezhi Tezhi, Siavonga in Southern Province and Chirundu, Chongwe, Kafue, Lusaka, Rufunsa and Luangwa Districts.

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Gernant Magnin / WWF-Netherlands

VCA supports CUTS Lusaka directly influencing Lusaka district and national policy

The Mazabuka district of the Southern Province in Zambia has major challenges such as the high use of charcoal energy and unsustainable farming practices, including sand mining, burning of sugarcane bio-waste to create energy for brewing the local illicit alcohol Kachasu, rampant deforestation for charcoal production, and farming.

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