Integrated Assessment of Miombo Region: Exploration of Impacts and Adaptation Options in Relation to Climate Change and Extremes (Paul Desanker, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, USA, and Manuel Ferrao, Centro Nacional de Cartografica e Teledeteccao, Mozambique)

The goal of this project is to assess vulnerability and explore adaptation options to climate variability and extreme events in the Miombo region, including areas of Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique that lie within the drainage basin of the Zambezi River. An interdisciplinary team of social and natural scientists, managers, policy advisors and general public will be identified to form a regional assessment team that will participate in summer institutes to carry out the project. Primary emphasis will be on land use and its impacts on food production systems and food security, as well as impacts on land use changes on water; all within the context of climate change. The team will develop critical datasets and scenarios of land use change, a regional integrated model, and other tools for analyzing impacts and adaptation for the region, including a case study approach to document climate–land use–people–ecosystem interlinkages and interactions to guide adaptation planning. The data, models and case study results will be applied to assess vulnerability of life and livelihoods and identify critical adaptation plans of action in the Zambezi/Miombo region under future climate change, with particular emphasis on droughts and floods.

Countries and sectors: Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Food, water, land use, life and livelihoods, national physical planning including National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs).