Zambia’s cash transfer schemes cushion needy against climate shocks

Friday Phiri in IPS: ...Here, in what the Zambia Meteorological Department classifies as a region characterised by low rainfall, most families are entirely dependent on agriculture and have gone through similar hardships. But when these disasters strike, families have proven resilient and are finding ways to cope.

...Stella Kapumo of the Social Welfare Department in Pemba district explains that “there are three schemes under which our department gives support to the vulnerable in the community.”

“The Public Welfare Assistance Scheme is where material support such as shelter and food aid are given, and there are two cash protection schemes – a social cash transfer and a social protection fund,” Kapumo tells IPS.

According to Kapumo, the cash transfer is a bi-monthly cash allowance of 25 and 50 dollars respectively for vulnerable households and households where there are people with disabilities. The social protection fund is a once-off grant of up to 670 dollars for viable business proposals.

“The cash schemes are the most popular and have proven to be a powerful relief to the socio-economic challenges of the vulnerable communities where they are being implemented.  “However, here in Pemba we are implementing the ‘social protection fund’  where we give cash grants targeting vulnerable families to either boost and/or venture into viable businesses,” Kapumo says.

Piloted in 2003 in Kalomo district, southern Zambia, the social cash transfer has expanded to 50 districts currently providing social protection to about 60,000 vulnerable households. Communities in Zambia that rely on agriculture for their livelihoods are already suffering the consequences of climate change due to their limited resource capacity to adapt....

Zambian kids, shot by Florence Devoaurd, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons 3.0 license

Waiting for the rains, Zambia grapples with climate change

Ernest Chiombe in IPS: It is seven in the morning and Georgina Musende, 56, of Kamanga Township, which just lies east of the Zambian capital Lusaka, is already sweating as she digs into the dry earth. Every time the hoe hits the ground, the dust engulfs her.

But Musende, a single parent who supports her four children and 10 grandchildren, is not concerned about the scorching 35-degree Celsius heat nor the dust. She is worried that the delayed onset of the rainy season will affect her maize production.

“In the past, we knew that the Independence Day [Oct. 24] rainfall marked the beginning of the rainy season, but these days one doesn’t exactly know when the rains will start,” says Musende, who has already paid 90 dollars to rent a field near the township for the season. “Of course, tilling this hard surface in this heat is tough. But I have to do it now so that when the rains come, I will quickly come and sow the seeds,” she tells IPS, gazing at the sky.

About 15 kms away, 32-year-old Pearson Chola of Libala South Township, leans against a 210-litre drum he has filled with water. He has just collected it from the Lusaka Water Sewerage Company’s Water Works Kiosk. Behind him a woman and a group of four young boys, aged between three and seven years old, roll their drums of water home.  “For sure, the climate is changing. Take this year, for example, the rainy season has delayed a lot. When it’s like this, we suffer a lot, as many people come here to get water,” Chola tells IPS.

Joseph K. Kanyanga, chief meteorologist at the Zambia Meteorological Department, tells IPS that weather patterns in Zambia have changed. “Temperatures nowadays are higher than the 1950s; both maximum and minimum temperatures are showing a warming trend. As for rainfall, though there is uncertainty. There is an evident shift in the onset and end of the rainy season. The start of the rainy season shows the pronounced shift; at times starting as late as mid-December for most parts of Zambia,” Kanyanga says....

Close-up aerial photo of Zambezi River at the junction of Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Shot by Brian McMorrow,  under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license

US gives Zambia $355 million for water projects

Terra Daily via AFP: Zambia signed a deal Thursday with the United States for a grant worth over almost $355 million to improve water and sanitation in the cholera-plagued capital city, Lusaka.

"This compact we have signed today for the water supply, sanitation and drainage project valued at $354.8 million (about 274 million euros) will assist increasing access to and improving the reliability of water supply and drainage services," Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda said at the signing.

"It will also decrease the incidences of waterborne and water-related diseases and at the same time save time for households and businesses."...

Southern Africa is the region most affected by climate change

Clemencia Jacobs in AllAfrica.com via the Namibia Economist: Climate change is the greatest threat to humanity and the grand irony is that humans might be the architects of their own downfall, said Derek Hanekom, South Africa's Deputy Minister of Science and Technology at the signing of a declaration that will establish a regional science centre to support cross-border research into climate change.

Speaking at the signing ceremony on Wednesday last week, Hanekom said although sub-Saharan Africa is not the biggest culprit when it comes to pollution, it is the most affected by the impact of climate change.

Five southern African countries, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Angola and Botswana, with the assistance of the German government, will establish the Southern Africa Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL). The signing of the joint declaration effectively inaugurated the centre.

SASSCAL aims to strengthen trans-boundary science and technology development in the SADC region using regional and international expertise.

Also speaking at the ceremony, Zambia's Minister of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education, Dr John Phiri, said for too long Africa has relied on data and information on climate change from scientists outside the continent, therefore SASSCAL would come in handy.

"We have tended to look at climate change, food security and poverty challenges separately. We know that 60% of our people live in rural areas, we also know that 90% of our rural population depend on agriculture; most important of all, we do know the future climate predictions give a much more uncertain climatic condition for agriculture, with potentially devastating negative consequences.

Victorian Falls bridge, Zambian side, shot by Florence Devouard, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Zambia faces climate setback

AllAfrica.com via the Times of Zambia: Zambia will lose about US$4.3 billion in the next 10 years due to climate change effects in the agriculture sector if no remedial action is taken, Secretary to the Treasury Fredson Yamba has said. Mr Yamba said the projected loss in the next decade was approximately 0.4 per cent of Zambia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He said over the last 30 years, the country had lost an estimated US$13.8 billion to climate change in the agriculture sector due to floods, drought and extreme heat. Mr Yamba was speaking in Livingstone yesterday at the meeting of pilot countries under the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR).

The meeting, which has attracted several delegates from various parts of the world, is intended to provide an opportunity for countries to prepare a pragmatic approach in implementation of PPCR strategic programmes.

The PPCR is part of the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) within the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), whose overall objective is to provide incentives for scaled-up action in national development planning consistent with poverty reduction and sustainable development goals.

Mr Yamba said without interventions, climate change threatened food security and livelihoods of particularly the poor and rural communities as their financial ability to adapt to changes were limited....

Grain silos with total capacity to store over 100 tonnes of grain at Nampamba farm Mpongwe, Zambia, shot by Maxdrobot

Agricultural bottlenecks in Zambia

A piece in the "Art of Farming" column of the Times of Zambia: Agriculture is one of the most important sectors in Zambia and farmers’ expectations from the Government are high. The farmers have told this column that there is need for the Government to address the bottlenecks that have continued to affect the growth of the sector after analysing the challenges faced previously.

...Mukosa Matafwali of Ndola rural said she would be happy to see the benefits of the good Budget improving agriculture business for small-scale farmers. She said farming would be appreciated and contributes to poverty reduction unless the Budget begins to address concerns affecting the development of small-scale farmers.

...Luanshya’s Kampelembe Camp Agriculture chairperson Pythias Timba said lack of information of the weather pattern continues to affect farmers especially on climate change. Mr Timba said there was need to build capacity among small-scale farmers on issues of addressing the effects of climate change because they are the most vulnerable in the farming society.

He said with a majority of Zambians depending on agriculture, even a slight change in temperature could affect crops like maize and livelihoods. Mr Timba said any change in climate can spell disaster hence the need to teach the farmers on the mitigation and adaptation measures....

Africa moves for climate change adaptation

Patson Phiri in the Times of Zambia: The climate change conference set for Durban, South Africa starting on Monday November 28 provides an opportunity for the global community to reach a binding agreement towards the common goal of rescuing the planet, but deep divisions remain on the way forward.

African negotiators fear that developed Western nations— responsible for greenhouse gas emissions that have caused heat, droughts and destruction to the ozone layer because of increased industrialisation—will refuse to agree to a deal proposing that they should release adequate resources for adaptation to defuse a further collapse to the economies.

The 17th Conference of Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will continue negotiations towards a global consensus on a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

The conference takes place at a time when countries such as Zambia have already experienced unpredictable weather patterns that have interchanged between droughts and floods and conversely, extreme heat and extreme cold.

This is why minister of Local Government, Housing, Early Childhood and Environmental protection Nkandu Luo was emphatic on the need for all Africans to speak as one because such challenges are shared by all poor nations....

Deforestation in Zambia

Ruth Mwale in AllAfrica.com via the Times (Zambia): …The depletion of the country's vegetation has in the recent past been on the increase and a hidden contributing factors not only responsible for climate change effects, but also detrimental to strides for the country's economic prosperity.

….Uncontrollable deforestation results into environmental degradation such as abnormal weather patterns and loss of water. The rampant loss of forestry now starring in all provinces is without doubt a serious threat to the economic development.

Climate Change communication officer Matthews Kalabo said climate change is one of the major challenges which is being faced not only by Zambia but also the world at large…."The natural disasters that have continued to hit most parts of the country due to global warming include droughts and floods, which continue to affect the socio-economic development of the country," Mr Kalabo said.

…"The use of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to transfer highly efficient, durable and clean technology delivers a wide range of benefits to the local community whilst improving living conditions," he said. Mr Kalabo said through this project, deforestation can be reversed and income streams shifted from the present production of charcoal towards sustainable forest development.

"Zambia suffers deforestation, which to some extent caused by the production and consumption of charcoal. Every year, more than 250,000 hectares of the forest is disappearing," he said. He urged the Government to stiffen the Forestry Policy, to ensure its implementation in working towards reducing the emissions of gases, as well as the discriminate depletion of trees and vegetation….

A Zambian landscape, shot by Florence Devouard, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Zambia turns to Internet to fight climate change

Georgina Smith in AlertNet: Farmers will need access to up-to-the-minute information to adapt effectively to climate change, experts say, but in rural Zambia few have access to the Internet. A southern African communication group hopes to change that by rolling out rural “telecentres” that will act as one-stop shops for communications services in rural areas, offering Internet access, photocopying, credit for mobile phones and other services.
“The internet is an excellent solution” to a variety of problems, said Dean Mulozi, regional facilitator for the Southern Africa Telecentre Network (SATNET), which aims to give rural communities access to and training in how to use communication and information services.

Zambia, like many southern African nations, is seeing increasing prolonged dry seasons and short periods of heavy rainfall, changes believed linked to climate shifts. With most of the country’s population reliant on small-scale farming for a living, the changes are forcing farmers to rethink the way they operate. In particular, many farmers are switching to hardier crops – such as cassava rather than maize – to help ensure food security.

Whether it’s used to look up drought-resistant crops, determine which crops to plant after each harvest to boost nutrients in the soil, or figure out how to retain water in the soil to prepare for dry spells, the Internet has the potential to provide local communities with help in changing practices.

It also allows two-way communication, letting farmers ask questions and pass on their own techniques, rather than simply absorbing information. “Boosting the exchange of knowledge ensures that farmers can communicate and are involved as key agents of change in agricultural practices,” Mulozi said. He said information exchanged on the Internet could be backed up with help from agricultural extension agents….

FAO raises alert on high flooding risks in parts of southern Africa

FAO: Thousands of hectares of agricultural land and crops have been damaged by floods and heavy rains in parts of southern Africa, and more damage may occur in the coming weeks if above normal rains persist. This is raising concern about the food security of the affected population in the poorer parts of the sub-region over the coming months.

With the rainy season still only half way through, and with the cyclone season due to peak in February, several agricultural areas along the rivers in southern African countries remain at high risk of flooding, including portions of Botswana, Lesotho Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

“Food insecurity levels are already critical in the affected areas of some of these countries and floods will only further worsen the ability of poor farmers to cope and feed their families in the coming months,” said Cindy Holleman, FAO Regional Emergency Coordinator for Southern Africa. FAO is working with regional and national early warning systems to monitor the evolution in major river basins and to assess the impact on food crops.

In Lesotho, for example, one of the poorest countries in the sub-region, an FAO assessment team found that in some of the flooded areas up to 60 percent of harvests have been lost and over 4 700 livestock, mainly sheep and goats are dead.

Localized crop losses are also reported along river banks in southern and central Mozambique. The government has declared a red alert for central and southern Mozambique as water flows in the major rivers are above alert levels.

South Africa has already declared a national state of disaster in many districts of the country due to the floods that have destroyed thousands of hectares of crop land, and caused damages estimated in the millions of dollars…

The Limpopo River flooded in Southern Mozambique in 2000

Climate impacts on Zambian agriculture

Tiyese Sakala in AllAfrica,com via the Times of Zambia: …In Zambia, the studies have confirmed a positive correlation between climate change and the deterioration of living conditions particularly for small-scale farmers. Way back, from 1976, studies have indicated reduction in crop production in seasons of droughts and extreme wetness confirming a positive relationship between rainfall amount and crop production levels.

Some of the research considered in this article includes the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources research report, which confirmed loss of yield within the last 20 years due to prolonged dry spells and shorter rainfall seasons. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent societies also reported an 80 per cent crop failure during the 2004-05 season. One female farmer, Susan, of Petauke District suffered a 70p er cent loss in maize production during the 1994-95 agricultural season.

The highest failure in maize production was in 1992 when 730,000 metric tonnes was harvested against the expected production of 1,200,000 tonnes. During this time, 660,000 hectares of land was planted. The loss was even heavier at 740,000 tonnes in 1995 considering that more land, with 850,000 hectares was committed to maize production.

Climate change affects crop production by compromising internal chemical processes that build the dry matter, which is stored as grain or tubers. Therefore, the stage in plant development at which departure from normal temperature and water supply occurs is crucial….

A street market in Chipata, Zambia, shot by Brian Dell Bdell555

Flood issues unresolved in Zambia

Masuzyo Chakwe in the Post Online (Zambia): Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) general secretary Reverend Suzanne Matale has warned that the worst is yet to come if the issue of floods is not tackled once and for all. And Lusaka City Council (LCC) public relations manager Chanda Makanta said there is a lot of political interference in the allocation of plots.

In an interview, Rev Matale said the issue of floods must be taken very seriously in view of climate change. She said there was need to find a permanent solution as the worst was yet to come if left unresolved. “We as Zambians and the government have a responsibility to plan for these problems for the next season. We need to look at the drainage system maintenance and bringing in of new ones. This will help in future,” she said.

Rev Matale said there must be a limit of growth for shanty compounds, which in most cases were illegal. “There is need to re-plan these settlements so that they include proper drainages because releasing money every year when we have these problems doesn't solve the problem. The entire planning system must be looked into. The worst is yet to come if we encourage these unplanned settlements,” she said.

Rev Matale said another solution could be to open up new settlements where the basic services would be provided. She cited compounds like Kanyama and Kuku where permanent solutions could be found.

…Zambia Institute of Planners (ZIP) president Simeo Siame last week said no amount of shifting families from one disaster location to another is ever going to provide a lasting solution to the problems of floods.

Siame said professional advice was abound on proper land use practices as well as environment protection and preservation, which by and large had been ignored by the same people who now felt that the government owed then restitution….

Unpredictable weather hurting farmers in Zambia

Judith Hara in AllAfrica.com via the Times of Zambia: "Farming has now become completely different and difficult," laments Dickson Siangoma. Mr Siangoma is a headman at Malundu Village in Lusitu area of Siavonga and is struck by the changing weather patterns and conditions that have made farming a little less predictable and a high risk venture.

…Climate change is an issue that has affected many farmers' livelihoods world over. It has been established that agriculture is particularly vulnerable to climate variability. Small-scale farmers have been hit the most because of their limited capacity to adapt.

But at the same time, unsustainable farming practises are said to contribute to climate change, posing a great challenge to environmental sustainability, particularly through deforestation as they continue to search for productive agriculture farmlands.

New evidence from a study from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) indicates that on-going extreme changes and variability in Zambia's climate could bring losses of more than US$4 billion in agricultural income in the next 10 years, driving hundreds of thousands into poverty and food insecurity.

….[A]n organisation called Participatory Ecological Land and Use Management (PELUM) is presently working with farming communities to help them make informed choices towards an improved quality of life. PELUM is a regional network comprising a consortium of more than 200 farmer organisations and is available in 10 countries in Eastern, Central and southern Africa with branches in Zambia....

Plowing with oxen in southern Zambia, shot by Amanita Phalloides, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License

Lusaka flood victims relocated

AllAfrica.com via the Times of Zambia: MORE than 100 families in areas affected by floods in Lusaka have registered for the relocation process starting tomorrow, District Commissioner Christa Kalulu has said. Ms Kalulu said the response from the families in the affected areas was good because they had understood that it was for their own protection.

She said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the water levels in some parts of the city were high and that the Government would do everything in its means to lessen the suffering of the people. The townships worst hit by the floods are Chawama and Kanyama. Other affected areas are Mandevu, Mtendere, Kaunda Square, Kalikiliki and some parts of the light industrial area.

A Times check yesterday showed that many houses were submerged in water, forcing the residents to wade in filthy water ponds when leaving their homes. The Government would remain supportive to the affected families and had secured land for the victims where they would be safe.

Ms Kalulu said the District Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU), through district disaster management unit, had enough resources and had already put up tents, lavatories, and security, among other things.

Ms Kalulu said the DMMU was working closely with Lusaka City Council, Members of Parliament in the affected areas, and the ward development councillors where the registration was taking place, to make the exercise a success. The shifting of the residents was the only option the Government had at the moment to prevent people from contracting diseases….

Climate change: Zambia’s doomsday scenario

Jack Zimba in the Sunday Post (Zambia) imagines one possible future for Zambia: It’s August 2070 and Zambia is just reeling from the most devastating drought ever; this, after two successive droughts that have already brought untold suffering on the country’s 48 million inhabitants.

The drought has had such devastating effects as never seen before, with total crop failure. Several hundred thousand head of cattle and other livestock also die of starvation and thirst. Water levels in the rivers drop drastically - so much so that they resemble streams of murky water. Fish stocks are reduced to almost zero.

The Savannah has never been this dry and hot, with temperatures soaring to 44 degrees Celsius. Unaccustomed to such dry and blistering conditions, the hippopotamus goes the way of the Dodo. The Victoria Falls, which has attracted millions of tourists with its thundering waters, is reduced to a bare rock with a measly trickle of water. Tourist numbers plummet, so does the country's revenue. By mid-October, the situation reaches an apocalyptic magnitude, with heat waves in some low-lying areas like Siavonga claiming scores of souls.

Panic spreads across the nation as the country is plunged into darkness for hours every day, as power generation falls, owing to insufficient water to drive the huge turbines at Kariba. In the cities and major towns, there are chaotic scenes as thousands of people queue up for scarce mealie-meal and bread. These, however, break into widespread rioting, causing political instability.

…By 2070, most of us living today will have crossed to the other side, escaping the consequences of our actions today. Consequences that scientists now warn have already begun manifesting in various parts of the globe with increasing ferocity. But living in a region where there are no melting glaciers and rising sea levels to indicate a warming Earth may still deceive some to think that Zambia is not affected.

Oversease Mwangase has been working as a meteorologist for for 31 years and is now deputy director of the Meteorological Department. "What I can say confidently is that there is evidence of climate change in Zambia," he says….

Six African Countries funded to ease climate adaptation

Environment News Service: A total of $1.1 billion in new financing will flow to six African countries to assist them in developing renewable energy and preparing for the consequences of climate change. From solar water heaters to wind energy to development policy planning, a range of new, scalable investments were given the green light October 27 at Trustee meetings of the Climate Investment Funds in Washington. Agreed in 2008, donor countries have pledged over US$6 billion to the Climate Investment Funds.

Mozambique, Niger and Zambia will each receive up to $50-70 million in additional funding to help transform their economies through climate resilience. Morocco and South Africa will join Egypt in receiving very low-interest loans for $150 million, $500 million, and $300 million respectively, to strengthen their investments in clean energy in support of national priorities for low carbon development.

"Climate Investment Funds' support for Africa is coming at a critical time. Climate change has the potential to turn back the clock on hard won development gains across the continent," said Katherine Sierra, vice president of sustainable development at the World Bank.

"CIF financing is teaching us how to work together with governments, civil society and the private sector to make truly transformational investments a reality. Each CIF dollar so far is leveraging an additional 10 dollars in private and public investments," Sierra said….

Study of 16 developing countries shows climate change could deepen poverty

Purdue University News: Urban workers could suffer most from climate change as the cost of food drives them into poverty, according to a new study that quantifies the effects of climate on the world's poor populations.

A team led by Purdue University researchers examined the potential economic influence of adverse climate events, such as heat waves, drought and heavy rains, on those in 16 developing countries. Urban workers in Bangladesh, Mexico and Zambia were found to be the most at risk.

"Extreme weather affects agricultural productivity and can raise the price of staple foods, such as grains, that are important to poor households in developing countries," said Noah Diffenbaugh, the associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and interim director of Purdue's Climate Change Research Center who co-led the study. "Studies have shown global warming will likely increase the frequency and intensity of heat waves, drought and floods in many areas. It is important to understand which socioeconomic groups and countries could see changes in poverty rates in order to make informed policy decisions."

The team used data from the late 20th century and projections for the late 21st century to develop a framework that examined extreme climate events, comparable shocks to grain production and the impact on the number of impoverished people in each country.
Thomas Hertel, a distinguished professor of agricultural economics and co-leader of the study, said that although urban workers only contribute modestly to total poverty rates in the sample countries, they are the most vulnerable group to changes in grains production….

This graph shows the percentage of the population in poverty in 2001 and the change in poverty due to extreme climate for the sample countries. A Purdue team found that urban workers could suffer the most from climate change as the cost of food drives them into poverty. (Hertel lab image)

Water weed chokes Zambian power supply for copper

Reuters: Zambia's state-run power utility is rationing electricity to its vital copper mines because a water weed, introduced from Brazil in the 1990s as a flower, has blocked flows into the biggest hydro power dam. The southern African country, the continent's largest copper producer, is also rationing power supply to manufacturers while domestic users have been cut off and traffic disrupted by the failure of lights, a company official said on Tuesday.

The utility company Zesco Ltd.'s spokeswoman, Lucy Zimba, said the aquatic weeds had choked the flow of water into a dam at Kafue Gorge power station, forcing it to halt some generation units and cutting 360 megawatts of Kafue's 990 MW capacity. Zambia has a total generation capacity of 1,600 MW.

"We have had 360 megawatts of power out of our system since May 30 and this has caused major disruptions. It has affected the mines (and) other industries,"" Zimba told Reuters. "We are also carrying out further investigations to see whether it is only the weeds that have caused this little flow of water," she added. Zambia's power supply has been affected by the plant, known as Kafue weed, over the past 10 years….

An open pit at the Nkana mine in Zambia, shot by Per Arne Wilson, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5, Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 and Attribution ShareAlike 1.0 License

Floods in Zambia

An editorial in the Times of Zambia, via AllAfrica.com: …Zambia …has not been spared and has had her fair share of changing weather patterns characterised by flooding. Floods have become an annual phenomenon resulting in thousands of people being displaced while their crops have been washed away.

Infrastructure, such as bridges and roads in some parts of the country has been damaged and an ailing economy such as Zambia's cannot afford to allow such a situation to continue. The grim realities of flooding in Lusaka's Kanyama Township and the Barotse plains of Western Province are some of the stark reminders which must jolt the nation to action.

Residents of Western Province ravaged by the floods can take heart that the Government is committed to ensuring the effects of the floods are mitigated. Vice-President George Kunda, in Western Province to commiserate with the people displaced by the floods, said the Government was devising effective strategies to mitigate the effects of the floods.

Mindful that the floods had now become a yearly occurrence, Mr Kunda assured the people that the Government would strengthen the disaster management and mitigation unit to ensure such calamities are handled effectively. Government work can however be made simpler if those Zambians living in such disaster prone areas heed numerous calls for them to relocate to safer zones….

The Victoria Falls Bridge, from the Zambia side, shot by Florence Devouard, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

Rain-soaked southern Africa hit by worst floods in years

Terra Daily via Agence France-Presse: Southern African countries have been hit by the worst floods in years, killing more than 100 people and displacing thousands, as a tropical storm threatened to bring more pain on Saturday.

As Mozambique braced for the arrival of a strengthening tropical storm Izilda, record river levels across the region threatened to exacerbate floods which have already affected hundreds of thousands of people.

Namibia's government declared a state of emergency last week in areas where floods have affected over 350,000 people, 13,000 of whom were displaced, according to numbers released by the United Nations on Friday.

Another 160,000 people have been affected in Angola.

The Zambezi river, along Namibia's northeastern Caprivi Region, rose to 7.82 metres (25 feet) this week, its highest level in 40 years, before slightly dropping, Caprivi Governor Leonard Mwilima said. "We have large areas submerged by water and access to several villages is cut off," he said.

…Some are blaming climate change for the floods. "We must seriously consider the present floods and those of a year ago as having to do with climate change," Guido van Langenhove, a Namibian government hydrologist, told AFP.

Locator map of Southern Africa by Xiong, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5, Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 and Attribution ShareAlike 1.0 License