Drought Risk to Agricultural Systems in Zimbabwe: A Spatial Analysis of Hazard, Exposure, and Vulnerability

Frischen, Janna, Meza, Isabel, Rupp, Daniel, Wietler, Katharina and Hagenlocher, Michael, (2020). Drought Risk to Agricultural Systems in Zimbabwe: A Spatial Analysis of Hazard, Exposure, and Vulnerability. Sustainability, 12(3), 2-24

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  • Sub-type Journal article
    Author Frischen, Janna
    Meza, Isabel
    Rupp, Daniel
    Wietler, Katharina
    Hagenlocher, Michael
    Title Drought Risk to Agricultural Systems in Zimbabwe: A Spatial Analysis of Hazard, Exposure, and Vulnerability
    Appearing in Sustainability
    Volume 12
    Issue No. 3
    Publication Date 2020-01-21
    Place of Publication Basel
    Publisher MDPI
    Start page 2
    End page 24
    Language eng
    Abstract The devastating impacts of drought are fast becoming a global concern. Zimbabwe is among the countries more severely affected, where drought impacts have led to water shortages, declining yields, and periods of food insecurity, accompanied by economic downturns. In particular, the country’s agricultural sector, mostly comprised of smallholder rainfed systems, is at great risk of drought. In this study, a multimethod approach is applied, including a remote sensing based analysis of vegetation health data from 1989–2019 to assess the drought hazard, as well as a spatial analysis combined with expert consultations to determine drought vulnerability and exposure of agricultural systems. The results show that droughts frequently occur with changing patterns across Zimbabwe. Every district has been affected by drought during the past thirty years, with varying levels of severity and frequency. Severe drought episodes have been observed in 1991–1992, 1994–1995, 2002–2003, 2015–2016, and 2018–2019. Drought vulnerability and exposure vary substantially in the country, with the south-western provinces of Matabeleland North and South showing particularly high levels. Assessments of high-risk areas, combined with an analysis of the drivers of risk, set the path towards tailor-made adaptation strategies that consider drought frequency and severity, exposure, and vulnerability.
    UNBIS Thesaurus DROUGHT
    ZIMBABWE
    Keyword Rainfed agriculture
    Irrigated agriculture
    Vegetation health index
    Copyright Holder MDPI
    Copyright Year 2020
    Copyright type Creative commons
    DOI 10.3390/su12030752
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    Created: Fri, 24 Jan 2020, 17:58:48 JST by Aarti Basnyat on behalf of UNU EHS