Ashley Mujoma
THE Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism, and Hospitality Industry is educating its staff and others about climate change through a new programme.
The initiative is meant to provide solutions to mitigate the impact of climate change, including the increasing occurrences of extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, tropical cyclones, and mid-season dry spells.
The Ministry is enforcing mainstream climate change planning and budgetary processes with the support of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
Additionally, all of its departments are required to report on the adaptation and mitigation programmes being implemented within their sectors to strengthen climate change coordination and financial transparency.
The programme began on Wednesday with the director in the Climate Change Management Department, Washington Zhakata, leading the first presentation.
“Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has for the past two budget cycles been issuing budget call circulars which mandate all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to mainstream climate change in planning and budgetary processes.
“The Ministry started off by capacitating districts and provincial development committees to integrate climate change in development planning within the context of devolution with over 60 districts and nine ministries having been capacitated to date,” said Zhakata.