ZIMBABWE is facing extreme weather patterns such as excessive heat, recurrent droughts and flooding which pose a threat to food security and lives due to climate change. Water sources are fast drying up, leading to reduced agricultural productivity. Environment, Climate ministry director for climate change management department, Washington Zhakata (WZ), speaks with NewsDay (ND) Midlands reporter Brenna Matendere on the adverse impacts of climate change in Zimbabwe and how farmers in particular can adapt. ND: What is climate change? WZ: Climate change is a change in climate patterns that occur over a long period of time and have been largely caused by human activities that have increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, especially from the use of fossil fuels like coal in the process of electricity generation and used in boilers in industry. ND: What is the difference between climate change and climate variability? WZ: In essence, climate variability looks at changes that occur within very short timeframes, such as a month, a season or a year, and climate change considers changes that occur over a longer period of time, typically over decades or longer. ND: In Zimbabwe, what are some of the worst effects of climate change recorded? WZ: Major adverse impacts of climate change in Zimbabwe include declining water resources and reduced agricultural productivity due to the droughts that are affecting Zimbabwe especially in the last 20 years; spread of vector-borne diseases like malaria to new areas; changes in populations and distribution of biodiversity like pests and some other forms of vegetation; and violent weather and climatic disasters like the impacts of cyclones Idai, Dineo, Eline and other flood-related disasters. In March last year, Zimbabwe lost over 850 people to tropical Cyclone Idai, over 100 people to floods in 2016/2017, one third of the population was food insecure during 2015/16, 2018/2019 seasons. Bridges and roads have been destroyed by floods across the country in recent years, just to mention a few. Another clear evidence of climate change in Zimbabwe is the experience of more hot periods (at times associated with heatwaves) and fewer cold days than before. The timing of onset and end of the rainfall season are becoming increasingly uncertain. The frequency and length of dry spells during the rainy season have increased while the frequency of rain days has been reducing. ND: Government recently announced plans to set up a coal plant in Gokwe, but the world is encouraging reduction of coal emissions as part of a fight to reverse climate change. What is your take on such plans? WZ: An inter-ministerial and multi-stakeholders awareness campaign should be conducted to sensitise the country on the various multi-lateral environmental agreements and their implications for Zimbabwe. The country has national commitments to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change known as the nationally-determined contributions in which the country is expected to reduce its emissions by 33% per capita by the year 2030