Climate shocks deepen Zimbabwe food insecurity as children face rising malnutrition

Climate shocks deepen Zimbabwe food insecurity as children face rising malnutrition

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Zimbabwe is among the Southern African countries worst affected by escalating climate shocks, with droughts, floods and worsening food insecurity exposing millions of vulnerable people, a regional alliance of humanitarian organisations has said.

In a joint statement, the East and Southern Africa Joining Forces Alliance said the region swung from a severe El Niño-induced drought in 2023-24 to intense La Niña-driven floods and cyclones in 2025-26, affecting nearly 1.9 million people by mid-February 2026.

The alliance said heavy rains triggered flash flooding that displaced communities, destroyed homes and damaged key infrastructure including roads, bridges, schools and health facilities.

Zimbabwe, alongside Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, was cited as suffering major crop losses linked to recurring droughts and erratic rainfall patterns associated with climate change. The alliance said losses ranged from 40% to 80%.

“Persistent droughts have exacerbated food insecurity, with crop losses reaching 40-80% in key producers like Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, where 70% of the countries’ populations rely on rain-fed agriculture,” the statement said.

It added that the emergencies were compounding existing vulnerabilities and increasing risks of disease outbreaks, pointing to damaged water and sanitation systems and overcrowding in temporary shelters.

The alliance warned of a “polycrisis”, saying extreme weather events that were once rare were becoming almost annual across parts of Southern Africa.

“From the devastating floods in Mozambique and Zimbabwe in early 2026 to the persistent agricultural droughts across the Limpopo Basin, the region is a frontline victim of a 1.3°C warmer world,” the statement said.

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Citing recent data from the University of Johannesburg (2026), the alliance said agricultural drought had become “the single greatest predictor of severe acute malnutrition in children”, with orphans and other vulnerable children hit hardest because of the absence of what it termed “parental buffers”.

The organisations said children were carrying much of the crisis through rising malnutrition, school dropouts and child labour. “The ‘silent killer’ of the region, drought, has decimated subsistence farming, leading to a surge in child labour and school dropouts as families struggle to survive,” the alliance said.

The statement also pointed to weak disaster preparedness systems in Zimbabwe and across the region, particularly in rural areas where early warning information may not reach vulnerable communities in time.

The alliance raised concern about declining international support for climate adaptation in Southern Africa, arguing that the gap between climate risks and available investment is widening.

“Joining Forces East and Southern Africa expresses grave concern over the widening gap between climate risk and climate investment, while global climate finance reached approximately US$43.7 billion recently, Sub-Saharan Africa requires upwards of US$190 billion annually to manage the transition (Climate Finance Lab, 2026),” the statement said.

It claimed that donors tended to prioritise high-profile mitigation projects in middle-income countries, leaving Southern Africa short of funding for adaptation measures focused on children.

The alliance called on governments and donors to prioritise child-sensitive climate financing, resilient agriculture, improved water and sanitation, and community-level disaster response infrastructure to reduce risks from future floods, droughts and cyclones.

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