National Adaptation Plan for Zambia.

This National Adaptation Plan (NAP) is a strategic framework designed for the medium to long term developed by the Government of the Republic of Zambia to address identified risks and vulnerabilities in diverse sectors. The goal is to bolster the country's resilience against the impacts of climate change, acknowledging the substantial risks it poses to natural resources, socio-economic development, and livelihoods. Specifically, vulnerable communities and sectors, including agriculture (crop, livestock, and fisheries), forestry, water, transport, tourism, infrastructure, mining, wildlife, and health, are recognized within this Plan. The NAP will enable government to systematically implement priority adaptation actions that contribute to the implementation Vision 2030, as well as the National Development Plans and the NDC. The scope of the NAP encompasses (i) Vulnerability Assessment, identifying risks in various sectors and regions; (ii) Adaptation Priorities, outlining specific areas for adaptation efforts based on vulnerabilities; (iii) Implementation Strategies, including policy changes and capacity building; (iv) Resource Mobilization, detailing financing strategies for adaptation actions; and (v) Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Reporting (MELR), providing mechanisms to assess effectiveness and allowing adjustments as needed. The document sets out the following objectives (i) identify the country's vulnerabilities to climate change and develop medium and long-term adaptation actions to minimise the impacts; (ii) integrate climate change adaptation into the national, sectoral and sub-national planning and budgeting processes; (iii) strengthen institutional and technical capacities for the implementation of identified priority adaptation actions; (iv) strengthen institutional coordination mechanisms for climate change adaptation actions at national, sectoral, and sub-national levels; (v) leverage emerging opportunities for resource mobilization for the implementation of the prioritised adaptation actions to address current and projected climate risks.
The Plan specifically outlines adaptation actions for climate hazards, such as droughts, floods, high temperatures, and windstorms, assessing vulnerabilities across five elements (environmental, social, human, financial, physical, and institutional) considering exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity, and climate risk levels, addressing various impacts, including droughts affecting sectors, provinces, and agro-ecological regions (AERs); floods causing poor crop yields, food insecurity, and poverty, impacting provinces, AERs, and sectors, with additional consequences on water quality, sanitation, hygiene, women's health, mining, wildlife, tourism, and health and infrastructure sectors; temperature rises negatively affecting agriculture, infrastructure, livestock, and human health, notably in vulnerable regions, intensifying food insecurity, yield reduction, livestock fatalities, water scarcity risks, heat-related health issues, and dehydration; and adaptation actions to windstorms addressing potential damages due to rising asset values, leading to widespread debris, damage to forests, properties, buildings, and infrastructure, prompting the development and implementation of enhanced windstorm-resilient standards and building codes, as detailed in the Plan. Finally, incorporating climate change adaptation and gender in annual budgeting involves aligning sectoral objectives with National Adaptation Plan (NAP) priorities, underscoring the importance of integrating gender considerations. The Gender Division in Zambia is developing guidelines and checklists for gender-responsive planning and budgeting to support government ministries and agencies in mainstreaming gender perspectives, including allocations for adaptation in the budgeting process.