About the Project

Climate change – including rising temperatures and an increased frequency of droughts and extreme rain events – is negatively affecting local communities living in rural parts of Zambia. Miombo woodlands provide a range of benefits that increase the resilience of these communities to climate change. Such benefits include regulating and provisioning services. However, miombo woodlands are being degraded as a result of unsustainable land management and exploitation of natural resources. The consequences of ecosystem degradation in Zambia include loss of vegetative cover. This degradation is exacerbated by the aforementioned effects of climate change. Such effects reduce the capacity of these woodlands to protect vulnerable communities from the increasingly negative impacts of climate change that are threatening their livelihoods.

Currently, restoration and livelihood development initiatives in Zambia do not adequately take into account climate change-related risks and adaptation needs. Furthermore, the capacity of Zambia’s Forestry Department (FD) to plan and implement appropriate adaptation interventions is hindered by limited institutional and technical capacity.

The preferred solution to the climate change problem in Zambia is to reduce the vulnerability of local communities by: i) enhancing the capacity of the FD and local communities to plan for adaptation to climate change; and ii) implementing adaptation interventions that increase the resilience of miombo woodlands using a community-based approach. However, there are multiple barriers to achieving this preferred solution, including inter alia: i) limited technology for adaptation and sustainable management of miombo woodlands; ii) limited finances for adaptation; and iii) a weak policy environment and institutional capacity for mainstreaming adaptation that is community-based.

The UNDP-implemented, LDCF-financed project will contribute to overcoming these barriers using an integrated approach. In particular, the project will: i) strengthen technical and institutional capacity of foresters and communities in Central Province to plan and implement climate-resilient agro-forestry and assisted natural regeneration in miombo woodlands; ii) establish robust fire monitoring and management protection plans in all districts in Central Province to maintain regeneration in these woodlands and reduce fire frequency; and iii) replace inefficient charcoal production and wood-saving technologies with efficient systems. Local communities at project intervention sites will be included in the selection and implementation of the activities, with a particular focus on enabling the most vulnerable members of these communities, including women.

Expected Results

• Review of the Forest Policy to include among other things carbon sinks as a tradeable forest product and expansion of management options to include communities and private sector
• Technical and institutional capacity of foresters and communities in Central Province to plan and implement climate-resilient agro-forestry and assisted natural regeneration in miombo woodlands;
• Robust fire monitoring and management protection plans in all districts in Central Province to maintain regeneration in these woodlands and reduce fire frequency; andInefficient charcoal production and wood-saving technologies replaced with efficient systems.