The Bulawayo United Residents’ Association (Bura) has called on the Meteorological Services Department (MSD) to educate residents on climate change, which has caused erratic rainfall, drought and floods in the country over the past few years.
BY ALEXIS SIBANDA
Speaking at a national adaptation plan meeting organised by the Environment, Water and Climate ministry last week, Bura chairman, Winos Dube said citizens ought to be taught about weather patterns, as they affect their day to day lives.
“The change in weather patterns also saw the education sector being affected because when there is no running water, schools cannot run efficiently, hence, we see children being sent home resulting in a decline in the pass rate due to disruption in lessons,” he said.
Dube said the drilling of boreholes is now a necessity because most families depend on subsistence farming. “The dry spell increases demand on the market, which results in high prices on products. That could be avoided if all things were normal,” he said.
Dube said the Environment ministry should support residents with resources such as flyers, T-shirts, caps and fuel coupons, so they can cover a lot of ground in awareness campaigns.
MSD Harare acting director, Washington Zhakata said: “The biggest barriers to climate change adaptation is the lack of adequate knowledge and information at every level, nation, regional and local and thus the focus has to change and be on the adaptation.”
Meanwhile, Bulawayo City Council acting senior engineer, Kwanele Sibanda said, their local climate solution was to “ensure adequate potable water supply, increase water security, efficiently reduce water loss, increase public awareness, increasing resilience of water and sanitation infrastructure to climate change in every possible way they can”.
