Title: Climate variability and change in water resources management of the Zambezi River Basin
Student: Sithabile Tirivarombo
Country of origin: Zimbabwe
University: Rhodes University
Degree: PhD (Water Resource Science)
Supervisor: Prof. Denis Hughes
Year of registration: 2009
Student number: 609T6968

Climate variables such as precipitation and temperature are known to impact the availability of water resources. The African climate has always been variable with recurrence of extreme events. Climate change will amplify this variability and it is inevitable that much of the impact will manifest through water. Changing rainfall and river flow patterns will affect all water users particularly in shared water basins where there is competition for the water resource from users with different interests. In Southern Africa most farmers depend on rain fed agriculture and the uncertainty in rainfall events has resulted in shifting crop water requirements, thus posing a threat to food security and livelihoods. Intensification of floods and droughts will increase the vulnerability of many people particularly those from disadvantaged communities. This research focuses on the quantification and implications of climate variability and change on hydrology and water resources of the Zambezi river basin and intends to bring forward appropriate mitigation and adaptation recommendations to the water managers. The Pitman rainfall runoff model is used with the perturbation of downscaled global circulation models to develop future scenarios for food security, and flood and drought management.

Last Modified: Tue, 18 Aug 2015 11:40:59 SAST