Assessing the Presence or Absence of Climate Change Signatures in the Odzi Sub-Catchment of Zimbabwe

Abstract

Climate change and potential adverse impacts on water availability for the purposes of sustaining competing demand uses are causes of concern among water resources managers. This study focused on assessing rainfall and runoff data of a micro catchment in Save's Odzi sub-catchment to determine if any trends existed and how far the results indicated climate change. The study had four rainfall stations (Rusape, Nyanga, Mukandi and Odzi Police Rail) and five runoff stations (E32, E72, E73, E127 and E129). Mann Kendall's test was applied for determining trends in the two variables. The results obtained do not point to climate change. This study recommended that issues of current land use patterns and water abstractions be thoroughly understood for the area under study. It also recommended that techniques which promote terrestrial carbon sequestration should be introduced in the micro catchment.

Climate change/variability and hydrological modelling studies in Zimbabwe: a review of progress and knowledge gaps

“…Three main applications of RS in hydrological modelling presented in numerous studies can be summarised as, (1) model parameter estimation with the aid of multi/hyper-spectral satellite data; (2) computation of historic monthly runoff using satellite data as input; and (3) real-time flood forecasting using radar rainfall measurements as input [ 280 , 281 ]. In this regard, many researchers have used GIS and RS in hydrological modelling studies aimed at optimisation of catchment management in the Mediterranean regions [ 282 ], water resources management in India [ 283 , 284 ], forest hydrology [ 285 – 287 ], assessing water quality vis-à-vis human activities in Korea [ 288 ], monitoring small dams in semi-arid regions [ 289 , 290 ] and general parameterisation of hydrological models [ 273 , 291 – 293 ]. GIS and RS have been noted to have a major advantage of accurately sizing and characterising catchments in rainfall-runoff modelling over and above the fact that analysis can be performed much faster, especially when there are complex mixtures of land use classes and different soil types [ 294 ].…”

Bridging the divide between intuitive social-ecological value and sustainability in the Manica Highlands of southern Africa (Zimbabwe-Mozambique)

“…Zimbabwe ranked 14 th in 2015, and 51 st in 2017 (Kreft et al, 2017;Eckstein et al, 2019). Apart from a few local studies, including on forests in general, the Odzi-sub-catchment, and recordings of community-based change experiences (Matarira and Mwamuka, 1996;Mweembe, 2013;Nyoni et al, 2013;Matimaire, 2015), there has been no climate change research focused on the MH.…”