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Zambezi countries move toward $130m climate resilience financing – EnviroNews
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Eight countries sharing the Zambezi River Basin have moved closer to a $130 million financing package for a regional programme to strengthen food security, livelihoods and climate resilience, after agreeing on priority investments ahead of a formal appraisal mission.
The proposed Programme for Building Resilience of Food, Livelihoods and Ecosystems in the Zambezi River Basin (BREFOLE-ZRB) is now being developed as a bankable investment programme, with participating countries and development partners reviewing its financing allocations, implementation arrangements and safeguards.
The agreement was reached during a Sept. 9–11, 2026, regional workshop in Harare involving the Zambezi Watercourse Commission (ZAMCOM), African Development Bank, Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Government of Zimbabwe and representatives of Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The workshop preceded the programme’s appraisal mission and focused on determining how the proposed financing can be directed toward investments that deliver benefits across the basin.
African Development Bank Division Manager for Agricultural Research, Production and Sustainability, Dr. Laouali Garba, said the priority was to convert mobilised resources into tangible benefits for communities.
“We planted together, and we need to harvest together for the benefit of the most vulnerable communities of the Zambezi basin,” Garba said.
The proposed programme would finance interventions around four areas: natural resources management, community climate resilience, institutional capacity and knowledge, and regional coordination.
These include landscape restoration, water management, climate-smart agriculture, stronger agricultural value chains and economic opportunities for women and young people.
The Zambezi Basin supports agriculture, fisheries, tourism, hydropower and water supplies across eight southern African countries but faces increasing pressure from drought, flooding, land degradation and climate variability.
ZAMCOM Executive Secretary, Felix Ngamlagosi, said investments made by individual countries must also contribute to shared basin-wide outcomes.
“While the individual investments must respond to the priorities of each participating country, they must all contribute to common basin-wide results,” Ngamlagosi said.
The workshop recommended that member states allocate at least 10% of their national budgets toward basin programme benefits and priority areas, while also strengthening community-level capacity, gender-outcome tracking, land governance and results measurement.
African Development Bank Country Manager for Zimbabwe, Eyerusalem Fasika, said participating countries and partners now have a shared responsibility to prepare a high-quality, bankable investment programme.
“We have a shared responsibility to prepare a high-quality, bankable investment programme,” Fasika said in remarks delivered on her behalf by Garba.
She called for timely submission of country inputs and completion of requirements needed to advance the financing.
The workshop therefore marks a step toward securing and deploying the proposed $130 million, rather than a final announcement that the full financing has already been approved.
By Winston Mwale, AfricaBrief
