CLIMATE change is increasing the number of hot days, rainfall variability and frequency of floods, droughts and cases of malaria among other effects, an official has said. These impacts if not mitigated will impede economic growth, erode food security, prolong existing poverty traps and narrow down sources of household income. Zimbabwe has not been spared from the effects of climate which pose a serious threat to efforts to tackle poverty and promote economic growth and human development. It is against this background that the Government through the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate has initiated the National Climate Policy Development process. In an interview with The Patriot, acting deputy director of Climate Change in the ministry, Veronica Gundu said the crafting of the National Climate Change Policy was in line with the ever changing climatic trends. She said the country had made significant strides through the promotion of environmentally friendly strategies. “Zimbabwe has made some strides in promoting green growth strategies through the development of different plans, green economy workshops and indabas, green technologies such as ethanol blending and Green Industry Initiative pioneered by the private sector, climate change mitigation remains key in attaining sustainable development and dealing with the climate change challenges,” she said. “A National Climate Change Response Strategy has also been developed with specific action plans to address the climate change challenges.” Gundu said a business-as-usual approach was no longer an option as current patterns of production and consumption are unsustainable compared to the rate and ability of the environment to produce, assimilate and regenerate. The development of the National Climate Policy identified four thematic areas, which include weather, climate and climate modelling, vulnerability and adaptation assessments, mitigation and low carbon development pathways and cross-cutting issues/enablers. Stakeholders’ consultative workshops on mitigation and low carbon development pathways have since been held and five sectors with mitigation potential were identified resulting in policy statements being developed. The National Climate Policy seeks to provide an enabling environment to promote climate change mitigation actions, green growth strategies and low carbon development initiatives. Gundu said the policy statements generated at the workshop include the energy, agriculture and waste sector. “The ultimate goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy production, transmission and use, to monitor measure and report on emissions and carbon footprints through the use of approved technologies and methodologies,” she said. According to Gundu the policy would promote research, development, adoption and deployment of robust, gender sensitive sustainable green technologies. The programme, she said, would also increase the use of safe, cleaner, affordable and sustainable sources of energy through removal of tax, trade barriers, incentivising new players, accessing climate-related funding, co-benefits or rewards such as carbon credits from fuel blending and loans from the Climate Change Management Department, hence increasing the finance, technological and technical know-how for local capacity building in climate change for example combine heat and power. Gundu said the policy will cascade to the agricultural, industry and waste sectors to be more effective. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe will combine celebrations for the International Biodiversity Day which is held on May 22 with the World Environment Day on June 5. The day will be commemorated under the theme: ‘Biodiversity for Sustainable Development’. According to the United Nations (UN) homepage, this year’s theme reflects the importance of the efforts made at all levels to establish a set of Sustainable Development Goals(SGGs) as part of the UN Post – 2015 Development Agenda for the period of 2015-2030 and the relevance of bio-diversity for the achievement of sustainable development. Humanity’s fate is tightly linked with biological diversity–the variety of life on earth. Biodiversity is essential for sustainable development and human wellbeing . It is crucial to the reduction of poverty due to the basic goods and ecosystem services it provides. More than three billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity while over 1,6 billion people rely on forests and non-timber forest products for their livelihoods. Habitat degradation and loss of biodiversity are threatening the livelihoods of more than one billion people living in dry and sub-humid lands. Strategies to protect bio-diversity must therefore be developed for poverty reduction and sustainable development.