Understanding the Politics of Climate Change in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This article analyses how politics and livelihoods are challenged and affected by global climate change while paying particular attention to how traditionally formed, non-climatic factors are manipulated within Zimbabwe's climate change policy framework. In this context, the article will proffer legislation and laws as tools of governance that enable climate change policies and legislature to be implemented within the confines of the existing constitution. The methods will be drawn from an extensive literature review between 2011 and 2022 and document analysis to report the interconnectedness of climate change and politics. After critiquing the vulnerability theoretical framework and applying qualitative methods, the article will discuss and trace the influence of politics on how climate policies and laws impact livelihoods. The findings of this article are two-fold. Firstly, local communities and ordinary people are not involved in climate change decisions and policy-formulation processes whilst they are the most vulnerable. Secondly, the government, as the critical decision-maker, must adhere to international climate change conventions and develop homegrown policies with local consultations.