Zambia Country Report

The report identifies Zambia's high vulnerability to climate change, specifically in agriculture and water security, and assesses the role of higher education institutions in addressing these challenges. It highlights significant gaps in climate modelling, carbon marketing, and the integration of CCD into national curricula, while identifying strengths in solar energy research and disaster management training.

• Zambia has experienced a mean annual temperature increase of 1.3 °C since 1960, with the most rapid increase occurring in winter at 0.34 °C per decade.
• The country's primary climate vulnerabilities are concentrated in agriculture, food security, natural resources, wildlife, forestry, health, water, and energy, with rain-fed agriculture being particularly susceptible to crop failure.
• National policy priorities for adaptation include strengthening early warning systems, promoting alternative livelihoods near Game Management Areas, and climate-proofing urban sanitation.
• There is a significant gap in the integration of climate change and CCD into the national education system, with some officials arguing that the curriculum is too full to accommodate these issues.
• University-based research in Zambia is diverse but often fragmented, with notable strengths in solar energy at the University of Zambia's Energy and Environment Research Group (EERG) and disaster management at Mulungushi University.
• A rapid review of Google Scholar indicates a lack of Zambian-led publications on climate change, with only one of the first ten sampled articles featuring a Zambian first author.
• Individual capacity gaps are widespread across the CCD sector, specifically in climate modelling, carbon marketing, monitoring, reporting, verification (MRV), and fundraising.
• Institutional capacity is hindered by a lack of financial resources for adaptation, weak monitoring and evaluation systems, and a lack of a coherent approach to tackle climate change within a development context.
• There is a strong need for transdisciplinary research and knowledge co-production to bridge the gap between factual scientific data and the practical needs of local communities.

APA

Urquhart, P., & Lotz-Sisitka, H. (2014). Zambia Country Report. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/SARUA-Vol2No11-Zambia-Country-Report.pdf

Chicago

Urquhart, Penny, and Heila Lotz-Sisitka. Zambia Country Report. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2014. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/SARUA-Vol2No11-Zambia-Country-Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Urquhart |first1=Penny |last2=Lotz-Sisitka |first2=Heila |title=Zambia Country Report |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=May 2014 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/SARUA-Vol2No11-Zambia-Country-Report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{urquhart2014zambia, author = {Urquhart, Penny and Lotz-Sisitka, Heila}, title = {{Zambia Country Report}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2014}, month = may, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/SARUA-Vol2No11-Zambia-Country-Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }