Zambia running dry: What do rich nations owe countries on the climate frontline?

As countries around the world gather for COP29 in Azerbaijan, Zambia is suffering its worst drought in 40 years and 50% of this year’s crops have been lost, ITV News Health and Science Correspondent Martin Stew reports

Words by ITV News Health and Science Producer Rhiannon Hopley

With 2024 on track to be the hottest year ever, this week countries around the world will gather for COP29 in Azerbaijan.

One of the main topics of discussion will be climate finance - how much-developed nations owe developing countries to help them adapt to the effects of global warming.

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, rich countries are bound to provide finance to developing countries to help them cut emissions and cope with the effects of climate change.

The current goal is to provide $100 billion (£77 billion) a year although it is widely agreed that this is not enough.

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One of the countries in need of this support is Zambia. It is suffering its worst drought in 40 years and 50% of this year’s crops have been lost.

"We are at the frontlines of receiving the adverse impacts of climate change,” says Gabriel Pollen, the national coordinator for the country’s disaster management and mitigation unit.

“We need to transition from merely talking to dealing with the actual realities on the ground – supporting developing countries to build resilience in the face of climate change.” 

Zambia produces as many emissions in a year as the UK does in ten days, and the US produces in just 15 hours.

It is also a leader in green energy – it provides 83% of its power through hydropower. Its biggest dam at Lake Kariba was completed in 1960.

But the drought means the reservoir and the river systems which feed it are drying up.

The lake is currently running at just over 4% of its full capacity. Water levels have dropped to their lowest ever from 13 metres to just 90cm.

Cephas Museba, the senior power station manager at the dam, says if they continued to run power at capacity they would run out of water in 30 days.

Instead, they are having to ration what they put through.

Just one generator out of six is running. The result is rolling power outages for Zambians. When we visited in early October, people were receiving just three hours of power a day – usually in the middle of the night.

“Climate change is real because the effect for us - we are already experiencing it… The frequency of load shedding or drought will increase and for that we need to look for another alternative source of power,” says Museba.

In the busy capital of Lusaka, the effects of the power outages are obvious. Those with private solar panels or diesel generators power their homes and businesses at extra cost.

Others crowd into malls, where huge backup generators keep the power on, gathering in cafes to plug their laptops in for work.

In shopping centre corridors, any power socket on the wall has someone’s mobile phone plugged in for charging.

Even the traffic lights are not always switched on, leaving drivers to navigate the roads without them.

The cost is especially high for small businesses.

At Yellow Shop Barbershop, the owner Julian Miti has had to cut his hours as he can only work during the daylight.

He has invested in rechargeable shavers but can no longer use other tools like his plug-in hairdryer. His takings are down 85%.

Just down the road, Karen Bowa runs a butcher's shop.

She usually has two freezers full of meat but without power, she has had to reduce the amount of meat she buys and store it in just one of the freezers using big ice blocks to keep it cold.

She says the cost of ice has increased dramatically in the last few months – almost quadrupling as demand for it rises.

The effects can also be seen starkly outside the big cities. Commercial farmers who rely on power for their pump irrigation are having to plant fewer crops further increasing the food crisis.

At local health posts, vaccines are also being stored on ice and delivered from bigger cities to keep them cold.

At Chipapa Primary School in Chilanga, they noticed female students were often staying home from school when they were on their periods.

The charity World Vision helped build a toilet block where the girls could wash and the school saw attendance increase. But the block is now closed as without power, water cannot be pumped in.

World Vision spokesperson Agatha Mali says it is frustrating to see the impact of power outages impacting people’s lives and livelihoods.

“Business gets slow, activities go down, most shops are closed - most companies rely on power, so even if they have generators or alternative power sources, it’s not enough to sustain them or enable them to do their work accordingly," she says.

"It would be good if we could make use of solar systems that could power our houses, communities and work systems. Of course, we’d still need some money to pay for that.”

While the charity sector is doing its best to help the country’s neediest to tackle the impacts of the drought, the government is calling for support from other nations to build its climate resilience.

It argues that it needs funding to help promote investment in the overall infrastructure needed to cope with new extremes of weather, such as diversifying the sources of electricity supply.

“We are receiving support to address the impact of climate change but it’s tailored towards immediate food assistance. Nothing is being given for resilience building in order for countries like Zambia to better withstand the adverse impacts of climate change” says Gabriel Pollen.

As leaders gather in Baku this week to discuss the climate fund, countries like Zambia – already bearing the brunt of the crisis – will be watching carefully.

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